The effectiveness of Filial play therapy on social- emotional skills in 5 to 6 year old preschool girls of Isfahan

Introductoin: The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of filial play therapy on social- emotional skills in 5 t0 6 year old preschool girls of Isfahan.
Method: The design of the research was semi-experimental, pre-test, and post-test with control group. Statistical population was all of preschool girls of Isfahan in 2014-2015 academic year that 94 children replied to social- emotional questionnaire and 30 children were selected as sample using multi-stage random sampling who obtained lowest score in this questionnaire. Subjects were categorized in two 15-person experimental and control groups. Research tools was social-emotional skills screening questionnaire (translated by Miller, 1977). The mothers of experimental group participated in eight 2-hour sessions of filial play therapy intervention. Data were analyzed for statistical analysis of covariance test by using SPSS-17 software.
Results: Results indicated that Filial play therapy in the post-test significantly increased social- emotional skills in preschool girls (p<. /.5).
Discussion and Conclusion: This research applied mainly for increasing the level of socio-emotional skills of children in training center and generally in the society. This method is proposed to specialists in the field of children because it can be used to reduce behavioral problems in children and enhance proper social behavior and control emotions in children.