Intervention based sociodrama: Evaluating the effectiveness on the anxiety in children with social anxiety disorder

The aim of this study was to explain the effectiveness of sociodrama intervention to reducing anxiety in children with social anxiety disorder.

Research method in this study was a single-subject of AB experimental designs. The study population consisted of all children with social anxiety disorder 6 to 7 years that attended psychological centers in Tehran in 2021. Among them, 5 children with social anxiety disorder (two boys and three girls) were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria and by purposive sampling. Sociodrama intervention was performed for each child in 10 sessions. The research instrument was Spence Children Anxiety Scale (1997) and Social Behavior Checklist (Made by a researcher). Each participant was evaluated 5-6 times before the intervention (stage A) and then underwent were trained separately sociodrama (stage B). Data were analyzed using visual analysis at both within-condition and between-condition levels. 

The results showed that sociodrama intervention reduce anxiety in children with social anxiety disorder in Spence Children Anxiety Scale; and the recovery rate in each of the single behaviors of anxiety and avoidance in problem solving, anxiety and avoidance in self-control, anxiety and avoidance in responsibility, anxiety and avoidance in communicate, anxiety and avoidance in finding friend, anxiety and avoidance in participation and cooperation and anxiety and avoidance in assertiveness respectively was 67.01, 83.30, 82.80, 82.65, 77.37, 86.88 and 82.78 percentage. The total recovery rate among five subjects also 82.42 percent was estimated.

Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the sociodrama intervention can reduce the anxiety in children with social anxiety disorder. Therefore, family and educational institutions, psychological and counseling services centers can benefit from sociodrama intervention to reducing anxiety children with social anxiety disorder.