Effectiveness of Group Therapy of Psychodrama on Reduce the Symptoms of Separation Anxiety Disorder in Children Aged 5 to 9 Years in Zahedan

Separation anxiety disorder is one of the first and most common psychological disorders in children. Therefore, therapeutic interventions to reduce this disorder is important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of group therapy of psychodrama on reducing the symptoms of separation anxiety disorder in children 5 to 9 years.

Methods and Materials:

 The design of the present study was a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test with follow-up, with experimental and control groups. The statistical population in this study was all children aged 5 to 9 years with separation anxiety disorder in Zahedan in the academic year of 2019-2020. For select the sample, 30 children were selected using the two-stage cluster sampling method and randomly assignment into experimental and control groups. Experimental group, seven 90 minute sessions, group therapy of psychodrama and no intervention was performed on the control group. At the end of the educational-therapeutic sessions, the post-test was administered and after one month, both groups were re-evaluated. The instrument used in this study was anxiety the Spence children's anxiety scale (SCAS-P) and Disease Symptoms Parental Questionnaire (CSI-4). The research data were analyzed using SPSS 22 measurement analysis software test.

The analysis of the results showed that the symptoms of separation anxiety in the experimental group compared to the control group showed a significant decrease (P≤0.01).

Group therapy of psychodrama can be used to reduce the symptoms of separation anxiety in children aged 5-9 years in Zahedan and this therapeutic approach can be used for this population.