Effectiveness of Attachment-based Theraplay on Parental Self-Efficacy, Emotion Regulatoin and Social Adjustment in Children with Separation Anxiety: A Case report

This study aimed to investigate effectiveness of attachment-based Theraplay on parental self-efficacy of mothers, emotional regulation, social adjustment and anxiety of children with separation anxiety.

The present study is a quasi-experiment, a kind of single-subject individual baseline A.B. The statistical population of the study incorporates mothers and children with separation anxiety (SAD) who have referred to Pardis counseling and psychological center in Isfahan for 4 months in 2020. Three children with Separation anxiety, between 3.5 to 6 years old were selectedby availablesampling. Children and their mothers participated individually in attachment-based Theraplay for eight forty-five-minute sessions. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the package, Parental Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (Domka, 1996), Emotional Regulation Checklist (Shields & Cicchetti, 1998), Social Skills Questionnaire (Matson, 1983), and Preschool Anxiety Questionnaire (Spence, 2001) wereutilized and the results were demonstrated by graphs and improved effectiveness percentage.

The results indicated that in the post-test and follow up, children's anxiety scores have decreased significantly mothers' parental self-efficacy scores and children's emotional regulation and social adjustment have increased significantly.

Based on the findings of this research, it can be concluded that the presence of attachment components in attachment-based Theraplay intervention improved performance of mother-child relationship and reduces separation anxiety in children. Attachment-based play therapy provides effective and advantageous strategies for mothers, parents, and child psychotherapy centers in order to promote parental sensitivity and treat behavioral problems and separation anxiety in children with attachment problems.