The efficacy of mindfulness training and play therapy on the self-esteem of elementary school students

Research has demonstrated that students with elevated levels of self-esteem tend to perform better in social interactions. Mindfulness interventions, which emphasize self-discipline and a focus on present experiences, have been increasingly scrutinized for their ability to facilitate the recognition of mental events and enhance traits such as sensitivity, openness, and receptivity among individuals. Concurrently, play therapy is recognized as a beneficial physical and mental activity that boosts self-respect. Despite these advancements, there is a notable gap in research concerning the application of mindfulness principles within play therapy to amplify self-esteem within the studied population.

The current study was designed to compare the effectiveness of mindfulness-based education and game-based education on the self-esteem of primary school students in Garmsar City.

The present research employed a semi-experimental design, incorporating pre-tests, post-tests, and a one-month follow-up. The study population comprised all primary school students in the city of Garmsar (totaling 7,620) in the academic year 2021-2022. Participants were divided into three groups of 15, selected through purposeful convenience sampling based on eligibility criteria. For data collection, the self-esteem questionnaire developed by Krocker et al. (2003) was utilized. The interventions included a play therapy protocol by Johnson and Parsons (2023), delivered over eight 60-minute sessions, and a mindfulness training protocol by Siegel et al. (2002), also conducted over eight 60-minute sessions for the two experimental groups. To test the research hypotheses, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted using SPSS software, version 22.

The analysis of the data revealed that both mindfulness interventions and game-based interventions significantly impacted the enhancement of self-esteem among primary school students in Garmsar city (p <.05).

Drawing from the findings of this study, it is evident that both mindfulness and play therapy possess the capacity to affect self-esteem in students. Future research is recommended to employ larger sample sizes and to explore different research populations to validate and extend these results.