Comparison of the effectiveness of drama therapy and music therapy on sleep disorders in children with grief

Introduction: Children experience grief differently than adults. Accordingly, the treatment of these childrenchr(chr('39')39chr('39'))s problems should be appropriate to their condition. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of drama, therapy and music therapy on sleep disorders in children with grief. Methods: The present study was a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test with a control group. The statistical population of the study included all children with grief referred to psychological clinics in Ahvaz in a period of 4 months in 2017 to 93 people. According to the inclusion criteria, 45 boys and girls with symptoms of grief were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental groups of drama-therapy, experimental group of music-therapy and control group (15 children in each group). Research data were collected using the Sleep Disorder Scale (CSHQ). Data were analyzed using analysis of mono-variance using SPSS software version 21. Results: The findings showed that both drama therapy (pre-test 75±7/33&post-test 56/53±5/37) and music therapy (pre-test 71/06±7/47&post-test 64/33±6/46) were effective in reducing sleep disorders in children with grief (p <0.01) and the difference between the effectiveness of drama therapy and music therapy in reducing sleep disorders in children with grief was different. There was significance in favor of demonstration therapy (p <0.05). Conclusion: Respecting the therapistchr(chr('39')39chr('39'))s creativity and not adhering to the stereotyped frameworks of treatment may be considered as the most important reasons for the effectiveness of drama therapy and music therapy. Therefore, it can be said that drama therapy and music therapy can be used as one of the treatment methods to help psychological problems of children with grief.