자녀가 상담을 받고 있는 부모의 양육스트레스와 타액 코티졸에 미치는 모래놀이치료 효과

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of sand play therapy on the parenting stress and saliva cortisol levels of parents undergoing child counseling programs. The study was conducted with 13 parents who were undergoing child counseling programs. The sessions were held every week for 45 minutes from July, 2011 to September, 2011. To evaluate the effects of sand play therapy, pre test and post test were conducted and the results were then analyzed. The therapy sessions consist of parents making sand boxes, and this was done without consideration of any particular theme. The instrument used was Abidin (1990)`s Parenting Stress Instrument (PSI). Saliva cortisol levels were obtained at the pre-post stage of the sand play therapy. The data were analyzed by means of frequency and the Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test was conducted by the SPSS. The major findings were as follows; There were significant differences in terms of the decreases in the areas of perception of all the parenting stresses examined, including daily life stress, child temperament stress, child relationship stress, and learning-expectation stress, as well as in saliva cortisol levels. Finally, this study suggests that parenting stress and saliva cortisol levels have a positive relationship, and the effects of sand play therapy were significant with decreases in parenting stress and saliva cortisol levels. There is a clear need for parents undergoing child counseling programs to engage in sand play therapy to decrease parenting stress and saliva cortisol levels.