The effectiveness of play therapy with life skills approach on separation anxiety syndrome in preschool children

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of play therapy with life skills approach on reducing separation anxiety syndrome in preschool children.

This research was conducted by quasi-experimental method with pre-test design, post-test with control group. The statistical population of this study was all children in the leading preschool center of Mashhad in the second semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. In this study, using available sampling method, 30 students were selected and randomly assigned to experimental (n= 15) and control (n= 15) groups. The Separation Anxiety Research Questionnaire (Han et al. 2003) was used to collect information. The experimental group was also trained in play therapy with a life skills approach based on Vernon model (2006) in ten 90-minute sessions. Data analyzed through Multivariate analysis of covariance.

The results showed that there was a significant difference between separation anxiety syndrome and its components between the experimental and control groups in the post-test stage (P< 0.05).

The findings of the present study showed that play therapy with a life skills approach can be used to reduce separation anxiety syndrome in preschool children.