Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Interventions Based on Play Therapy on the Adaptive Behavior in Children with Intellectual Disability

One of the most important criteria for defining and identifying of intellectual disability is significant problems in adaptive behaviors. Since play is one of the ways to improve adaptive behavior in these children, it seems that conducting a meta-analysis will help determine the actual effect of play-based interventions on their adaptive behavior. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of interventions based on play therapy on the adaptive behavior in children with intellectual disability in Iran.

This research is a meta-analysis. Prior to analyzing the effect size of the mean differences, the PRISMA method was used to determine the decision tree model. Then, using the meta-analysis technique, the effect size of play-based interventions was determined. 10 of the 19 studies conducted in Iran with the keywords play, play therapy, adaptive behavior, mental retardation, and intellectual disability published at SID, IranMedex, IranDoc, Google Scholar, and Magiran during 2008-2018, were collected according to the entry and exit criteria and analyzed through meta-analysis. The research instrument was a meta-analysis checklist, and comprehensive meta-analysis (CMA) software was used to analyze the descriptive data and effect size of the research.

Findings showed that the effect size of the difference between the meanings of play-based interventions on adaptive behavior was 0.65 (P≤0.00001), which is high according to Cohen's table (1998).

Given the high impact of play-based interventions, it can be said that this method of intervention can play a major role in improving the adaptive behavior of children with intellectual disability and can be used as an appropriate method in the rehabilitation of these children.