Abstract

The aim of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of sand play therapy in treating social anxiety disorders in children. It is applied in terms of the purpose. It is also descriptive-experimental because the researcher intends to examine the relationships between variables. The statistical population of the present research is all 5-year-old children in the children's home of Pishrow. From all 5-year-olds in the children's home of Pishrow, we selected randomly 40 children at convenience (the total number of members of the children's home is 250, of which 100 anxious children were selected at convenience). They were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 20) and control (n = 20) groups. We used Spence Children's Anxiety Inventory (2007) to collect information. We analyzed Data using univariate analysis of covariance (ANCO) and multivariate analysis (MANCOVA) in SPSS software. The mean of anxiety disorders in children after sand play therapy in the experimental group (with pre-test control) was lower than the control group. We can say that sand play therapy has a positive effect on reducing anxiety disorders in these children. Therefore, we can consider sand play therapy as one of the treatment methods for anxiety disorders in young children.