This study is a mixed study that analyzes how job stress of female social welfare service workers is reduced through sand play treatment. The purpose of this study is to help research participants who have experienced unstable attachment to find their...
This study is a mixed study that analyzes how job stress of female social welfare service workers is reduced through sand play treatment. The purpose of this study is to help research participants who have experienced unstable attachment to find their true self after experiencing stable attachment through a method of sand play treatment. To this end, the researcher applied John Bowlby (1907-1990)'s attachment theory and Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)'s analysis psychology theory to each case of the study participants and analyzed their sand play treatment contents by subject.
Participants in the study were six female social welfare workers in their 30s and 40s who voluntarily participated in sand play treatment. The study was conducted for five months from March 2023 to July 2023. The researcher performed 10 sessions of sand play treatment on 6 study participants. Sand play treatment was conducted once a week, and the location was visited by the researcher directly to the center where the study participants were working. The collected data were analyzed by John Ward Creswell's qualitative case study technique.
When participants first participated in this study, there was a characteristic that participants did not feel the emptiness of their jobs and satisfaction with their lives. The researcher found that the work-related stress of the study participants was caused by the difficulties of communicating with people and the unstable attachment experienced in the parenting process of parents when they were young. The researcher examined the psychological process of the study participants whose unstable attachment changes to stable attachment through sand play treatment. In addition, the researcher verified the process of developing the healthy self of the participants through the treatment process and the effect of reducing work-related stress by improving interpersonal relationships.
The results of this study are as follows. First, the study participants were able to experience corrective emotional attachment through sand play treatment to unstable attachment due to parental divorce, neglectful parenting environment from parents, unstable family environment in which main caregivers change, and inconsistent parental attitudes. Second, as middle-aged women, the weight of psychological, physical, and social expectations due to multiple roles made it difficult to form a relationship. This study provided an opportunity for the study participants to become self-aware and insightful through sand play treatment. Third, it was confirmed that the negative emotions of the study participants were positively changed and work-related stress was reduced.