The Effectiveness of Parent-child Play Therapy on Depression Symptoms in Children with Cancer,Decreasing Perceived Stress on Their Mothers and Improving Parent-child Relationship

Cancer in children causes psycho†social, physical and economic difficulties for bothchildren and their families. Psychotherapy tries to find ways to reduce the negative effects ofthe cancer on children and their families. The present study, aimed to assess the effect ofparent-child play therapy on depression symptoms in children with cancer, decreasingperceived stress on their mothers and improving parent-child relationship. A total of 14children diagnosed with cancer and their mothers (28 individuals), referred to Dr. SheikhHospital in the city of Mashhad, were selected and randomly assigned into two groups ofintervention and control. Mothers answered the Perceived Stress and the the Parent-childRelationship Scales, Children filled Child Depression Inventory, both in pre†test andpost†test. Intervention delivered individually comprising 8 one hour session of parent†child play therapy. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16, using analysis ofcovariance. Compared to control group, scores of children in intervention group in CDIreduced significantly from pre to post test. Also scores in PCRS increased significantly forintervention group. Scores in PSS did not change significantly. Conclusion: parent-child playtherapy can be effective in reducing depression symptoms of children with cancer, andimproving parent-child relationship. It cannot be effective for reducing mothers level ofperceived stress.

کلیدواژه ها:

Children Cancer ، Play Therapy ، Child Depression ، Perceived Stress ، Parent-Child Relationship