The effect of Adlerian play therapy on the alexithymia and social isolation of deaf students.

Abstract

The present study aimed to the effect of Adlerian play therapy (AdPT) on the alexithymia and social isolation of deaf students. This study was a quasi-randomized controlled trial design. Twenty-four deaf students aged 15-18 years were randomly selected from Ferdous School for the Deaf in Isfahan, Iran. They were randomly replaced to experimental (n = 12) and control (n = 12) groups. The experimental group participated in 60-75 min AdPT group sessions twice a week over 4 weeks (eight sessions). Both groups completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 and Social Isolation Measure before and after AdPT intervention. The results revealed that the intervention significantly and positively influenced the alexithymia and social isolation of deaf students ( p < .001). AdPT improved the alexithymia and social isolation of deaf students. Despite the positive findings of the current research, it is important to continue research with other exceptional students using this treatment.

Understanding evidence-based treatment criterion through the evaluation of play therapy approaches.

“…AdPT has shown promising results as a child counseling modality and includes nine single case studies (Akay & Bratton, 2017;Duncan & Reese, 2012;Dillman Taylor & Meany-Walen, 2015;Meany-Walen et al, 2015a, 2015bStutey et al, 2017) and three randomized control trials (Ashori & Shamsi, 2023;Meany-Walen et al, 2014;Mirzaie et al, 2019). Meany-Walen et al ( 2014) utilized individual AdPT with children (5-9 years old) and a comparative control group that included mentorship with no therapy, producing a moderate to large effect size.…”

“…Meany-Walen et al ( 2014) utilized individual AdPT with children (5-9 years old) and a comparative control group that included mentorship with no therapy, producing a moderate to large effect size. Ashori and Shamsi (2023) utilized group AdPT with deaf adolescents using a comparative control group with no intervention. Mirzaie et al (2019) used individual AdPT with children and adolescents (6-15 years old) diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and two comparative groups (i.e., filial therapy and no treatment control).…”

“…Clearinghouses may also miss dissertation studies that show promising results, such as Dickinson (2019) and Akay (2013). Based on the combined criterion from each clearinghouse (see Table 4), AdPT meets the following criteria for EBTs: (a) tested manualized protocol where interrater reliability was achieved (r = .78r = .89; Dillman Taylor & Kottman, 2019;Kottman, 2009) and (b) three randomized control trials (Ashori & Shamsi, 2023;Meany-Walen et al, 2014;Mirzaie et al, 2019). By meeting these standards, AdPT could be evaluated at Level 3, Promising Treatment, for Title IV-E PSC (see Table 1); Level 4, Possibly Efficacious Treatment, for SCCAP (see Table 2); and Level 3, Promising Research Evidence, for CEBC (see Table 3); however, researchers are in the process of submitting additional AdPT evidence for review (T. Kottman, personal communication, 2021;T.…”