Effectiveness of group play therapy techniques on anxiety sensitivity, helplessness and resiliency in students with Learning Disabilities

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 M.A. in Educational Psychology, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran

3 . Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate of the effectiveness of group play therapy techniques on anxiety sensitivity, helplessness and resiliency in students with learning disabilities (LD). This study was semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test and follow-up design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of 253 students with learning disabilities who had been referred to the Center for Learning Disabilities of Boushehr Province’s Department of Education in 2018-2019 academic year. From among them, 40 students who had required attributed based on Colorado Learning Difficulties Questionnaire (CLDQ), Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), 5th Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), were selected and assigned to experiment and control group (each group consisting of 20 students). The measurement tools were Anxiety Sensitivity Questionnaire (1986), Learned Helplessness Questionnaire (1988) and Connor-Davidson Resiliency Scale (2003). The experiment group received 12 sessions (45 minutes each) of group training. For statistical data analysis, mixed variance analysis with repeated measures design was used. Findings showed that group play therapy techniques have a significant effect on anxiety sensitivity, helplessness and resiliency and this effect remains unchanged in the two-month follow-up phase (P<0.05). Finally, we may conclude that group play therapy techniques, as an effective and functional intervention, could be used to improve anxiety sensitivity, helplessness and resiliency of students with LD.

Keywords

References

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Empowering Exceptional Children
Volume 10, Issue 3
January 2020
Pages 55-69

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History

  • Receive Date: 26 August 2019
  • Revise Date: 30 September 2019
  • Accept Date: 26 October 2019

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