A study on the influencing process of Sandplay therapy for an abused child in life adjustment

• Main Authors: Hui-hung Chen, 陳慧鴻
• Other Authors: 王萬清
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 1999
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/62584425682644131287

碩士 === 臺南師範學院 === 國民教育研究所 === 87 === A study on the influencing process of Sandplay therapy for an abused child in life adjustment Hui-hung Chen ABSTRACT The major purpose of this study was to explore the mental abused child how to interact with the counselor in the process of Sandplay therapy, how to use sand and miniatures to express his inner experience, and how he changed in life adjustment after Sandplay therapy sessions. This study adopted case study method and participant observation method. The subject is an 6th grade elementary school boy who was mental abused by his alcoholic father in the judgement of Tainan Family Help Center. 11-sessions Sandplay therapy, 1hour for each session, was intervened with the subject for about 2 months after the pretest of “Elementary School Children Life Adjustment Scale” and further interview. Each session was videotaped, and the sandtrays which the subject made were taken pictures for analysis and preservation. After the termination of Sandplay, post-test of “Elementary School Children Life Adjustment Scale” and further interview were administered. “ Semantic Differential Scale” and “Sentence Complete Test” were administered to understand the subject’s image on some specific miniatures, and latent feelings and thoughts in the process of Sandplay sessions. During the process of this study, interviews with the subject’s father, grandfather, and teacher in a un-strutured situation were administered. The results of this study were listed as follows : 1. In facial expression and emotional reaction, the subject was unable to be relaxed completely in the therapy room. In verbal expression, the subject sometimes stammered, and often reacted with brief sentences, nodding or shaking his head. In body distance between the subject and the counselor, the distance became closer when the sessions proceeded, showing the subject improved his trust on counselor. 2. Overview all the sandtrays the subject made, the first two trays were war scenes, then harvest scene, and afterwards competence, confrontation, hunting, and the final scene was a relaxing game, it demonstrated the subject’s inner experience had changed, and the personality had grown. 3. The subject’s posttest scores in “Elementary School Children Life Adjustment Scale” was higher than pretest scores, the percentile rank changed from 40 to 60, demonstrating the subject had improved in life adjustment after Sandplay therapy. Furthermore, in the further interview, the subject said he became more courageous to overcome difficulties, got along with friends, and did not pay much attention to his looks, supporting above inference. Based on the results above, suggestions for counseling with abused children as well as further study in the future were discussed.