The Impact of Art Therapy on Shyness and Social Skills in Students

Abstract

Objective: The school, as a formal education system, plays a decisive role in the socialization of children. The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of art therapy on shyness and social skills among male students in the city of Khormooj. Methods and Materials: This applied research, in terms of purpose, utilized an experimental design employing a pre-test post-test with a control group. The research population included all male students of Khormooj city in the academic year 2022-2023, from which 30 students were randomly selected and assigned to two groups: experimental (15 students) and control (15 students). The experimental group received an art therapy training program over eight sessions, while the control group was on a waitlist. The research instruments were the Gresham and Elliott (1990) Social Skills Questionnaire and the Samooei (2003) Shyness Questionnaire. The data from the pre-test and post-test stages were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance and SPSS software version 22. Findings: The results showed that art therapy significantly affects the shyness of students in Khormooj; it also significantly affects their social skills. All research findings were significant at the α=0.05 level. Conclusion: Students with communication problems experience numerous interpersonal issues while interacting with peers in the school environment and during play, leading to the emergence of negative behaviors such as shyness; therefore, it can be concluded from the research findings that art therapy is effective in improving social skills and reducing shyness in students.