This study is a case study about married couple's sandplay therapy, which focuses on marital problems. The purpose of this study is to confirm that couple's sandplay therapy is helpful in the development of marital perspective taking, therefore provid...
This study is a case study about married couple's sandplay therapy, which focuses on marital problems. The purpose of this study is to confirm that couple's sandplay therapy is helpful in the development of marital perspective taking, therefore providing basic data for programs which will generally employ couple's sandplay therapy as a practical method for improving marital relations.
This study is mainly based on Sandplay Therapy by Boik and Goodwin as its theoretical background, and has performed research on couple's sandplay therapy and marital perspective taking, of which the latter is employed as the study's means of evaluation.
The research was performed on the total of 30 married couples (N=60). As an experimental group 15 married couples (N=30) who were aware of problems in their marital status and wanted improvement had volunteered for this research. Fifteen ordinary couples (N=30), who belonged to a religious group and participated in the questionnaires, constituted the control group.
The experimental research focused on data obtained by quantitative and qualitative analyses on whether couple's sandplay therapy improved the development of marital perspective taking.
In the case of quantitative analysis, the 15 couples acting as an experimental group were given couple's sandplay therapy once a week, two hours per session for a total of four sessions. The control group were not given any therapy. For the experimental group and the control group, an SDPT (Self Dyadic Perspective- Taking) Scale test was given as a pre-test and post-test. A paired t-test was conducted to examine any changes in marital perspective taking. In the case of the experimental group, in order to prove continuation, another SDPT Scale test was given six weeks later as a follow-up test.
In order to make an intensive study on the effects of couple's sandplay therapy, two of the 15 couples in the experimental group were selected for an additional eight sessions on couple's sandplay therapy, and afterwards were given tests on marital perspective taking, marital communication and happiness, and marital satisfaction as pre-tests and post-tests.
In the case of qualitative analysis, the two couples who had experienced four sessions of primary couple's sandplay therapy and eight sessions of secondary couple's sandplay therapy for a total of twelve sessions were given analyses about their case and verification of improvement on perspective taking via analysis of HTP drawings. One couple (N=2) was selected to describe their case so that detailed experiences, which could not be expressed in statistical figures, could be mentioned.
The results of this study's verification of the effectiveness of couple's sandplay therapy can be briefly described as the following:
First, the study's use of paried t-test on marital perspective taking in order to verify the effectiveness of the primary four sessions of couple's sandplay therapy revealed remarkable results. In the experimental group (N=30), the results of SDPT Scale test all showed remarkable differences between individuals, genders, and couples. However, the control group showed no particular differences.
Second, when applying analysis of variance to verify the continuance of the primary four sessions of couple's sandplay therapy, statistically remarkable differences were visible. The average of SDPT Scale test result in the experimental group (N=30) were 41.47, 47.73, and 46.90 in the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up test given six weeks later, respectfully.
Third, after the two couples (N=4) were each given their secondary eight couple's sandplay therapy sessions, SDPT Scale tests given to the couples afterwards showed a continuous score rise.
Fourth, when comparing pre-test and post-test results concerning marital communication/happiness and marital satisfaction of the recipients of the secondary eight couple's sandplay therapy sessions, both factors showed remarkable differences. These results implied that sandplay therapy programs for couples were effective in improving marital communication abilities and marital satisfaction.
Fifth, as a part of this study's qualitative analysis, Mr. & Mrs. A's marital communication-sandplay boxes that were used for 12 sessions were analyzed, and they showed that, divided into four levels, perspective taking abilities gradually improved at each level. Also, the couples' perspective taking was seen to improve in other aspects such as utilization of the box's space and initiative in organizing the box.
Sixth, upon analyzing the results of the HTP drawing test that was given as a pre-test and post-test of couple's sandplay therapy in this study, the fact that the volunteered couples' self-esteem and their ability to take perspective on others had improved was verified.
Compiling all of these results, couple's sandplay therapy was shown to improve marital perspective taking both via statistical analysis and case analysis. Not only that, but couple's sandplay therapy also proved to be helpful to marital communication and marital satisfaction.