The Comparison between Effectiveness of Storytelling and Play Therapy on Kindergarten Children Separation Anxiety

Introduction : The purpose of this study was to investigate the comparison of effectiveness of storytelling and play therapy on kindergarten children's separation anxiety. Methods : The present study was semi-experimental with control group design and included pre-test, post- test. Sampling was purposeful in which 30 children from Garmsar kindergartens who were diagnosed as suffering separation anxiety disorder were selected and randomly divided into two experimental groups and one control group (10 subjects each). The instrument used in this paper was CSI4 questionnaire part (J) specifically for separation anxiety disorder. The experimental groups received eight weekly sessions of storytelling and play therapy. Analysis of the data was done by using descriptive statistics and inferential tests such as covariance and Benferroni test analysis was conducted. Results : The results showed that storytelling and play therapy were effective on reduction of separation anxiety disorder in post-test (α 0.05). Conclusion : Based on the results, storytelling and play therapy were applied interference methods for reducing the symptoms of separation anxiety and improving social performances of pre- school aged children.