Abstract
Background and Objectives: With regard to the prevalence of Oppositional-Defiant Disorder in children and converting to the other disorders, if left untreated, this research aims to investigate the effectiveness of group play therapy on oppositional-defiant disorder symptoms among children.
Materials and Methods: This study is interventional and quasi-experimental research. In this study based on cluster sampling method, 30 participants were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The tools discussed here included Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Raven's Progressive Matrixes, Teacher Report Form (TRF) as well as a clinical interview with parents. Play therapy was provided weekly by group for the participants, in sixty-minute eight sessions. Participants were assessed in three stages of pre- interference post- interference and after two month intervals from completing sessions. SPSS18 and multi-variables covariance analysis method were used for analyzing data.
Results: The results obtained by Mancova analysis showed that there was a significant decrease in oppositional defiant-disorder symptoms in comparison with control group reporting by parents and teacher (P < 0.001). In addition, the results indicated the same effect after two months.
Conclusions: The results indicated the efficiency of group play therapy on decrease of oppositional defiant disorder symptoms among children. Accordingly using this treatment method on children was recommended to the therapists.