The Effect of Play Therapy in Group Counseling on Junior High School Students’ Social Interaction

Abstract

This study aims to find out the effect of play therapy through group counseling on student social interaction. To this end, pre-experimental one group pretest-posttest design was applied. Ten participants were recruited using a purposive sampling technique. Data were collected using questionnaires, interviews, and observations. Hypotheses were tested using the Wilcoxon test. The wilcoxon test results showed a Sig. (2-tailed) score of 0.005 (<0.05). Therefore, Ho was rejected and Ha was accepted, meaning that play therapy through group counseling services affects the social interactions of students who are associative (cooperation, accommodation, assimilation) and dissociative (competition). It is recommended for teachers, especially school counselors, to optimize the implementation of group counseling services with play therapy techniques as a means to help students, especially in increasing social interaction.