Evaluation of the Effect of Play Therapy on Separation Anxiety among Preschool Children: A Randomized Controlled Study

Aim: The efficiency of play therapy on separation-anxiety among preschool-children was evaluated as an experimental study including a pretest-posttest controlled-group. Materials and Methods: The population of the study consisted of 292 preschool children in the 3-5 age group who were educated in two kindergartens. The sample-size calculated by power-analysis included 30 preschool-children in experimental- and 30 in the control-group. Data was collected by the demographic information form, Separation-Anxiety Scale for Preschool Children, and Revised Preschool Anxiety Scale. Six-sessions of the ‘Play Therapy Program’ were applied to the experimental-group. Results: A higher decrease in separation-anxiety in the experimental-group compared to the control-group was observed when the change in total mean score from the Separation-Anxiety Scale was evaluated. When the total mean score of the Revised Preschool Anxiety Scale and the changes in sub items were assessed, the decrease in separation-anxiety in the experimental-group after training was statistically significant. Conclusion: This program was efficient in reducing separation-anxiety in kindergarten. Both teachers and parents of the children included in the study reported that play therapy is an effective method for reducing separation anxiety.