Assessment of group sandplay therapy on mental health of parents with autism children

Objective To explore the effect of group sandplay therapy on mental health of parents with autism children and to provide references for imprwe mental health of parents with autism children.Methods Forty-two parents with autism children were randomly assigned into experimental group and control group,the experimental group was provided with group sandplay therapy once a week.SCL-90 was used to assess mental health for parents in two groups before and after therapy.Results Before the experiment,there was no significant difference in mental health between two groups;After group sandplay therapy,SCL-90 total score(F=218.857,P<0.01),somatization(F=13.236,P<0.01),obsessive-compulsive(F=36.533,P<0.01),interpersonal sensitivity(F=13.000,P<0.01),depression(F=48.485,P<0.01),anxiety(F=25.136,P<0.01),photic anxiety(F=16.158,P<0.01),paranoid ideation(F=19.971,P<0.01),and psychoticism (F=31.031,P<0.01) were lower in experimental group than control group.Conclusion Group sandplay therapy could help to improve mental health of parents with autism children.