The Effect of Painting-Based Group Play Therapy on Emotional Skills of Children with Separation Anxiety Disorder

Research has shown that children with separation anxiety disorder often struggle with self-regulation and emotional regulation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of group play therapy, specifically painting-based therapy, on the emotional skills of children with separation anxiety disorder. The study utilized a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test-post-test approach and a control group. The study population included all sixth-grade female students with separation anxiety disorder in Ghaemshahr city during the academic year 1400. Thirty children were selected for the study and randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. Data were collected using the Separation Anxiety Questionnaire (March et al., 1997) and Zeiman's (2001) emotion management scale. The experimental group received ten 45-minute sessions of painting-based group play therapy, while the control group received no intervention. The data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate analysis of covariance. The results showed that painting-based group play therapy significantly improved the emotional skills of children with separation anxiety disorder (P<0.001). Based on these findings, it can be concluded that group play therapy based on painting is an effective treatment method for promoting mental health and preventing psychological problems in children with separation anxiety disorder.