• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.33-50
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was examining the effects of family sandplay therapy with structural family therapy in improving the family strengths of children with emotional and behavioral disorders. First, we looked for a way to combine family sandplay therapy with structural family therapy and formulated an approach that could maximize the strengths of each theory and complement each other's weaknesses. And then we applied family sandplay therapy together with structural family therapy and analyzed its effects on family strengths. The subjects of this study were 10 families of children with emotional and behavioral disorders, and they were divided into an experimental group with 5 families and a control group with the other 5. To the experimental group received 16 sessions of family sandplay therapy with structural family therapy. In order to prove the effectiveness of family sandplay therapy with structural family therapy on family strengths, a family relationship( husband-wife relationship, parent-child relationship, and sibling relationship) scale and a family function(family cohesion, family adaptability) scale were used. The main findings of this study are as follows. First, the family relationships of the families with emotional-behavioral disorder children were improved after the application of family sandplay therapy with structural family therapy. Second, the application of family sandplay therapy with structural family therapy improved the family function of families with emotional-behavioral disorder children. Third, in the course of family sandplay therapy with structural family therapy, family sand tray was changed in a pro-healing direction, and family structure was also transformed from a dysfunctional structure to a functional one. As previously stated, family sandplay therapy with structural family therapy for families of children with emotional and behavioral disorders enhanced family strengths through improving family relationships and restoring family functions.