The analysis of the efficiency of creative drama method on the development of social skills of adults with mental disabilities

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of creative drama method on the development of social skills of adults with mental disabilities and to set guidelines for the instructors working with adults with mental disabilities according to the findings of the study.In the study, a mixed research design approach consisted of pretest-posttest control group design and qualitative data gathering procedures was used. The independent variable of the study is creative drama method, and the dependent variables are the social skills aimed.A state school teaching adults with mental disabilities and another private special education institution in Bolu province were selected through Random Sampling Method for the study. The experimental group (6 women, 7 men) was composed of adult students with mental disabilities from the private special education institution and the control group was composed of 13 adult students with mental disabilities from the state school.The individual and group session instructors of the participants in the experimental group were asked to complete the Social Skills Assessment Scale (SSAC) prior to the study in order to collect pre-test data. Following the collection of pre-test data, social skills instruction through creative drama method started for the participants in the experimental group. Participants were taught the social skills aimed through creative drama method for 17 weeks. Each drama session plan was prepared to cover the duration of one hour. Following the instruction sessions, the instructors were asked to complete the Social Skills Assessment Scale (SSAC) again and post-test data was collected.The pre-test and post-test data for experimental and control groups was analyzed using Mann Whitney U and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. The significance level for the study is .05.The results of the study have shown that the social skills teaching programme created in accordance with the creative drama method is effective for the social skills development of adults with mental disabilities.Keywords: Social Skills, Adults with Mental Disabilities, Creative Drama.