International Journal of Play Therapy, Vol 32(1), Jan 2023, 1-9; doi:10.1037/pla0000187
This study aimed to develop and verify the effectiveness of an adventure play therapy program based on Adlerian theory and designed to increase community feeling among elementary school students. Adlerian constructs of self-encouragement, social interest, peer relations, and the Crucial Cs were the outcome measures. Participants were 32 grade five students attending an elementary school in Seoul, equally divided into the experimental and control groups. Ten counseling sessions over 5 weeks were conducted. The data were analyzed through independent variables t tests, repeated analysis of variance (ANOVA), and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), as applicable. The results indicated a significant increase in the following factors in the experimental group compared with the control group after program completion: self-encouragement (total score, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional self-encouragement subdomains); social interest (total score, attitudes, and behavioral subdomains); and peer relations (total score, instrumental aid, intimacy, and superiority subscales). Furthermore, the results of the trend analysis among the experimental group showed that the score of the Crucial Cs gradually increased with the number of sessions in the experimental group. Thus, the results indicate that adventure play therapy based on Adlerian theory is effective in promoting a sense of community among preadolescent children. This study proposes a remarkable new approach to child group counseling by integrating the major concepts of Adlerian theory and adventure-based counseling. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)