Comparison of the Effectiveness of Animal-Assisted Therapy and play therapy In reducing Primary school children behavioral disorders

The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of therapy by the help of a pet animal with play therapy in school children with behavioral disorders.   The present study was applied regarding its purpose and is semi-experimental with three groups and pre- and post-tests. The statistical population included all male school students who attended to the Education Counseling Center and Mahan Counseling Center and were identified to have behavioral disorders. The sample of the study was divided into one control group and two experimental groups, each including 15 participants with entry criteria, selected based on random sampling. For evaluating behavioral disorders in them, Rutter questionnaire (teacher scale) was used. Ten treatments sessions were held with the involvement of a pet animal for the first experimental group, based on the suggested content materials of Parish-Plus (2016) and Fine (2015). The content materials for play therapy with the second experimental group was developed and presented in 10 treatment sessions based on the suggestions of Cdauson and Sceffer (2010). To test the hypotheses of the study, one-way ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc tests were run using SPSS. The results indicated that both therapy methods were effective for reducing behavioral disorders. No significant difference was observed between the two methods regarding the reducing role in behavioral disorders. It seems that both play therapy and therapy with the help of a pet animal had significant effects on reducing behavioral disorders in school children.