The Effect of Sand Play Therapy on Parenting Stress of Mothers with Young Children and Maternal Efficacy

Objectives: The central purpose of the current research is to identifying the effect of sand play therapy on parenting stress of mothers with young children and their maternal efficacy. The experimental and control group with 7 subjects each participated in the research. Methods/Statistical Analysis: A set of 10 sand play therapy sessions, once a week from April to July 2015, were provided to the experimental group. Statistical analysis of collected data was made with SPSS 20.0(Statistical Package of Social Science) program and Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon Signed Rank test were conducted to validate the effect of sand play therapy. Findings: The results of the research can be summarized as follows. First, it was found that sand play therapy resulted in a significant difference in their parenting stress, which was reduced in the sub factors: maternal role performance and dysfunctional interaction between mother and children. Second, it was found that sand play therapy also had a significant effect on their maternal efficacy: abilities in overall child-rearing, healthy parenting, study guidance and discipline. Improvements/Applications: The current research has made some important implications for the importance of sand play therapy and consulting/psychological therapy for parents as well as for children.