Comparison of the Effectiveness of Narrative Therapy and Play Therapy Training on the Level of Compatibility, Attention and Concentration of Female Students Suffering from ODD

Abstract

This study has investigated the effectiveness of narrative therapy and play therapy strategies training on level of compatibility and attention and concentration of students suffering from Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD); it has compared these two methods in increasing the level of compatibility and attention and concentration of these students. The research method was experimental with pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population of the study consisted of female students in the 5th district of Tehran who were in eighth grade in the educational year of 2017-2018. In addition, they were selected by cluster sampling method and randomly assigned to two experimental and one control groups (a total of 3 groups). In pre-test and post-test, subjects were evaluated using the Sines & Singh Questionnaire (1993) and ToulousePyrun Visual Concentration Test. The first experimental group was taught narrative therapy strategies in 8 sessions, and the second experimental group received 8 sessions of play therapy strategies. However, during this time, the control group received no training. The results of covariance analysis showed that there was a significant difference in narrative and play therapy in the experimental groups'' levels of compatibility and attention and concentration comparing with control group in pre-test and post-test (p<0.05). There is no difference in increasing compatibility between the two methods. Nevertheless, the effect of play therapy was more than narrative therapy regarding the attention and concentration of students. Given the effectiveness of play therapy, it is recommended that the content of this program be held in the form of workshops for students.