Abstract: (26 Views)
Abstract
Background & Objectives: The poor theory of mind is one of the basic deficits of children with intellectual disability, which causes a major dysfunction in most of their functions. Due to significant deficits in theory of mind and subsequently in understanding the thoughts, emotions and intentions of others, children with intellectual disability often face deficiencies in the social interactions and become socially inadequate. However, low social adequacy can cause irreparable harm to these children. Therefore, in order to develop the theory of mind of children with intellectual disability and consequently improve their social adequacy, it is necessary to design plays that primarily include social interactions, expressing thoughts, intentions, feelings, pretending and role playing, because the social interactions provide opportunities to learn more about the connection between thinking and behavior as well as expressing thoughts, intentions and feelings. Moreover, an increasing understanding of one's own mind and that of others leads to a successful social behavior. Accordingly, this study aimed to design an educational program based on group plays and determine its effectiveness on theory of mind and social adequacy in children with mild intellectual disability.
Method: This study was semi-experimental with pretest-posttest design and a two-month follow-up with a control group. The population was all students with mild intellectual disability in Tehran in second elementary school who were studying in exceptional schools for the 2022-2023 school year. The sample consisted of 28 male students who were included in the study using convenience sampling and randomly divided into the experimental and control group. The instruments included Theory of Mind Questionnaire (Stirenman, 1994) and Social Competence Scale (Fellner et al., 1990). The intervention program was implemented on the experimental group in 24 sessions of 90 minutes (3 sessions per week for 2 months) between pre-test and post-test. Moreover, a follow-up was performed two month after the sessions. The data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance (α=0.05).
Results: The results of repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance showed that the educational program of this study has a significant effect on the linear combination of theory of mind and social adequacy in children with mild intellectual disability, and this program has been able to explain 63 percent of the variance of mentioned variables (p=0.001). Also, the effect of time on the linear combination of theory of mind and social adequacy is significant and time has been able to explain 82 percent of the variance of these variables (p=0.001). In addition, the interactive effect of group and time on the linear combination of theory of mind and social adequacy is significant and this interaction has been able to explain 79 percent of the variance of these variables (p=0.001). Then, the results of repeated measures analysis of variance for single analysis of each dependent variable showed that the effect of time on both theory of mind and social adequacy was significant (p=0.001). This means that the scores of these variables have changed over time, regardless of the effects of group membership. In addition, the results showed that the interactive effect of time and group on both theory of mind and social adequacy was significant (p=0.001). This means that there is a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of changes in these variables over time. In other words, both theory of mind and social adequacy have improved over time in the experimental group. Finally, the results of Bonferroni’s post hoc test showed that there was a significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores (P=0.001) and pre-test and follow-up scores (P=0.001) of the experimental group in terms of theory of mind and social adequacy, while there was no significant difference between post-test and follow-up scores (P<0.05), which means that the effects of the educational program remained stable after two months.
Conclusion: Parents, teachers, psychologists and rehabilitation centers can use the plays in the educational program of this study to improve theory of mind and social adequacy of children with mild intellectual disability.
Type of Study: Original Research Article |
Subject:
Psychology
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