The Affectiveness of Play Therapy on Axline Approach on Disorders Related to Anxiety in Primary School children in Yazd

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of play therapy with Axline approach on anxiety-related disorders in primary school students.  The research was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population included all students (boys and girls) with anxiety disorders related to primary school in Yazd, in the academic year of 2018-2019. In order to conduct this study, cluster random sampling method was used and 30 anxious children were identified using an anxiety questionnaire and randomly divided into two groups of 15 (experimental and control groups). The instrument used was a child prescription questionnaire screening for disorders related to child anxiety. Play therapy interventions were performed on the experimental group. The obtained data were statistically analyzed by analysis of covariance using SPSS-24 software. The results showed that play therapy Axline approach was effective in reducing the symptoms of anxiety-related disorders (P = 0.001). Play therapy also reduced panic, generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social phobia, and school phobia in children.