Journal of Counseling Research

Aim: The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of play therapy to reduce symptoms of grief in children. Method: This research is a pilot project for pre-and post-test study with a control group that is among the applied researches. The study population consisted of mournful school children between the ages of 7 to 10 years covered Imam Khomeini Relief Committee in 1393 in the city of Shiraz. Purposive sampling was done from among these children. They were diagnosed with grief disorder by the team that was composed of psychologists and counselors Imam Khomeini Relief Committee.  Of the 45 children diagnosed by consultants committee, as a pilot study, 30 children were selected and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The research method was quasi-experimental plans. In order to gather information and determine the long-term effectiveness of the children's grief Scale (IPG-C) were used. It has been developed by Spuij and colleagues (2011). The data were analyzed by independent T-test. Result: The results showed that the mean scores significantly decreased symptoms of grief in the experimental group than the control group (P<0/005). Conclusion: As a result, education (play therapy) in children is effective in reducing the symptoms of grief. Therefore, therapeutic play as a useful therapeutic approach in working with children is useful and it can be used to help the mental health of children.