Comparison of the Effectiveness of Acceptance-and-Commitment Play Therapy and its Integration with Training Mothers on Elementary School Children’ Anxiety, Self-Esteem, and Self-Efficacy

The present study aimed to compare effects of the Acceptance and Commitment Play Therapy combined with training mothers on anxiety, self-esteem, and self-efficacy of elementary-school students. The study administered an experimental design with a pretest-posttest, follow-up framwork. A total sample of 45 students in 4th and 5th grade at Farsan city were randomly selected and divided to two experimental groups and one control group (n=15). The first experimental group received 8 sessions of the ACT play therapy, while the second group received the combined ACT play therapy and maternal training. No intervention made on the control group  except empathic conversation sessions. Subjects were completed the Spence Anxiety Questionnaire, the Morris Children and Adolescents Self-efficacy Questionnaire, and the Cooper Smith Self-Esteem Questionnaire in pre-test, post-test, and follow-up phases. The final dataset were analyzed by a repeated-measure MANOVA analysis. Results indicated that the ACT play therapy significantly increased the children’s self-esteem and self-efficacy, whereas no significant effect found for their anxiety. The combined treatment in contrast significantly reduced anxiety and  increased self-esteem and self-efficacy in children. It could be concluded that although both treatments conveyed positive effects, the combined treatment was more effective than the isolated ACT play therapy.