The effect of group art therapy on aggression and social adjustment of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Tehran in 2019

The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of group art therapy on aggression and social adjustment of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The research method was a semi-experimental pre-test-post-test with a control group. The statistical population of the study included90 children aged 8-12 years with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder who referred to one of the behavioral disorders centers in Tehran in the first six months of 2019. Among them, 30 people (21 boys and 9 girls) were selected as the research sample by purposive sampling method and assigned to two experimental and control groups in the same ratio. The people of the experimental group received the art therapy program (visual arts) in 10 sessions of 90 minutes (two sessions per week) as a group, the control group was placed on the waiting list. Aggression (Shahim, 1385) and social compatibility (Sinha & Singh, 1993) questionnaires were used to collect information. The results of the multivariate covariance analysis showed that by controlling the pre-test effect, there was a significant difference between the average post-test scores of the experimental and control groups in the variables of aggression and social adaptability (P<0.001). In general, according to the results of this research, it can be said that group art therapy was effective in reducing aggression and increasing social adjustment of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.