?Does play therapy have an effect on self-esteem and social adjustment of mentally retarded students

Oral Presentation
Paper ID : 1351-SSRC
Authors
1Department Of Physical Education and Sport Science, Lahijan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan, Iran
2Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences Lahijan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan, Iran.
3Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Lahijan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan, Iran.
Abstract
Background: Mental retardation is one of the developmental abnormalities that occurs before adolescence and can lead to an unfavorable quality of life and a decrease in social skills and activities. Play therapy can be used as an effective method to treat the incompatibility of mentally retarded children.
Purpose: The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of play therapy on self-esteem and social adjustment of mentally retarded students.
Method: Methodology: The research method was of an experimental type with two experimental and control groups with pre-test and post-test. The statistical population included all female students with mental retardation in the elementary school of Rasht city with a population size of 200 people who were studying in the academic year 2022-2023, out of which 30 people were randomly selected in two experimental and control groups by available sampling method. became The tools used in this study were Gresham and Elliott's (1990) social skill rating scale and Cooper Smith's (1967) self-esteem questionnaire, which were used in both groups in the pre-test and post-test stages. In this study, the participants of the experimental group were trained in 8 sessions of 60 minutes, by the method of play therapy, while the control group did not receive any intervention. Data analysis was done by statistical test of covariance with software (SPSS-22).
Results: Results: The results of the covariance analysis of post-test scores in self-respect and social adjustment showed a significant difference between the groups (P<0.001).
Conclusion: The findings showed that the play therapy method has improved the self-esteem and social adjustment of mentally retarded children. Therefore, it is suggested to integrate play therapy training as one of the solutions for the treatment of communication problems of mentally retarded people in the educational programs of mentally retarded students.
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