The effects of creative drama on the self concept and depressive symptoms of 8th grade (ages 14-15) students with depressive symptoms

ABSTRACTTHE EFFECTS OF CREATIVE DRAMA ON THE SELF CONCEPT ANDDEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS OF 8TH GRADE (AGES 14-15) STUDENTS WITHDEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMSThe purpose of this study was to determine the effects of creative drama ondepressive symptoms and self concept of 8th grade students with depressivesymptoms.A total of 250 students aged 14-15, from a public school were included in thestudy. Child Depression Inventory (CDI) was administered to all cases. 36 cases witha CDI score of 16 or higher were assigned into two equal groups. Child DepressionInventory and Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale (PHSCS) were administered to bothgroups at baseline and at the end of the drama sessions. Creative drama sessions wereheld once a week for 2, 5 hours to the subject group for a 12 week period. The effectsof creative drama on the drama group were analyzed using paired samples t test.Between groups comparisons were conducted with independent samples t test.Whether CDI and PHSCS scores differed between subject and control groups interms of parental age, educational level and profession of parents were tested by two-way ANOVA. 0.05 significance level were used in all statistical procedures.According to results, whilst there was no difference between subject andcontrol groups in terms of depressive symptoms (p=0.85) and self concept levels(p=0.08) before creative drama, CDI scores significantly decreased (p=0.00), andPHSCS scores significantly increased (p=0.00) after drama sessions. A significantdifference was not found between CDI (P>0, 05) and PHSCS (P>0, 05) pre and posttest scores of control group.Creative drama activities resulted in a decrease in depressive symptoms(p=0.00) while causing a significant increase in self concept levels (p=0.00) of thestudents in the sample group. While there were no differences in terms of depressivesymptoms (p=0.85) and self concept levels (p=0.08) at baseline, there weresignificant differences between the two groups in terms of these measures (p=0.00for depressive symptoms and p=0.00 for self concept level) at the end of the dramasessions.The findings suggest that creative drama activities contributed toimprovement of a positive self concept and an evident decline in depressivesymptoms of 8th grade students.KEY WORDS: Creative drama, depressive symptoms, self concept,adolescent.