The Effectiveness of a Guidance Program Based on Play Therapy in Improving Social Skills among Kindergarten Children in Jordan

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the effectiveness of a play-therapy-based guidance program in improving the social skills of kindergarten children in Jordan. The study employed a quasi-experimental design, and the sample consisted of (14) children from the Al-Rusaifa Basic Mixed School kindergarten. The children were randomly divided into two groups: an experimental group (n=7) that received a (11) session play-therapy-based guidance program, and a control group (n=7) that did not receive any guidance program. The results showed statistically significant differences between the mean ranks of the scores of the experimental and control groups on the social skills scale, favoring the experimental group. The results also showed no statistically significant differences between the post-test and follow-up scores of the experimental group on the social skills scale, indicating the continued effectiveness of the guidance program as measured by the follow-up assessment. The study concluded with a set of recommendations, the most important of which is training kindergarten teachers in play-therapy-based guidance programs due to their role in improving the social skills of kindergarten children.