This study is aimed to find out the effect of group sand play therapy on the ego-state and aggression of elementary school students.
The research questions are as follows.
Question 1. What is the effect of group sand play therapy on the on the ego-s...
This study is aimed to find out the effect of group sand play therapy on the ego-state and aggression of elementary school students.
The research questions are as follows.
Question 1. What is the effect of group sand play therapy on the on the ego-state of elementary school students?
Question 2. What is the effect of group sand play therapy on the aggression of elementary school students?
For the object of the study, 30 elementary school students in 4th to 6th grade of B local children’s center located in Changwon city were first selected after explaining about sand play therapy. Among them, 18 students who marked high scores in aggression test were secondly selected. Based on the report by the guidance teachers of the center, nine students were selected as experimental groups and nine as control groups, regardless of gender or grade. In the experiment group, a total of 10 times of group sand play therapy was provided for 40 minutes each once a week, and the control group did not receive any therapy.
One box per three students were provided for the sand play therapy and the group decorated the boxes together.
For the research tool, children’s ego-gram test modified and supplemented by Korean Transactional Analysis Counseling Association and the scale which Han (2008) modified and supplemented Self-Reportable Peer Conflict Scale(PCS) were used. In addition, according to Neumann’s self-development stage, the box contents and behaviors of the group members in each session were analyzed.
The results of this study are summarized as follows.
First, group sand play therapy affects the self-status of elementary school students. The analysis of self-status showed that the experimental group did not show any difference in the pre-score and post-score, but the control group showed that the critical parent ego-state(CP) marked higher post-score than the pre-score. This shows that group sand play therapy affects critical parent ego-state(CP) of elementary school students.
Second, group sand play therapy affects the decrease in aggression of elementary school students. The experimental group's post-score was reduced compared to pre-score, resulting in a positive effect. In comparison, the control group didn’t show any difference between pre-score and post-score. This shows that group sand play therapy is effective in reducing aggression, and it was also observed that the aggressiveness was reduced in the observation of sand box and behavior of group members.
Third, group sand play therapy of elementary school students changed the sandbox and students’ behavior positively according to the ego development stage. In accordance with Neumann's ego development stage, after the chaos, animal, plants stage, struggle, ego, and self-construction stage, and group adaptation stage, the positive harmonious integrated box was created.
Thus, this study has limitations in generalizing to all ages groups of children since it was conducted only in higher grade of elementary school students, but has proved that group sand play therapy affects ego-state of elementary school students and effective in reducing aggression.
Key words: group sand play therapy, aggression, ego-state