Developing a Family-based Floor Time Therapy and Evaluation its Effectiveness on the Developmental Profile of Children with Interactive Disorders (Anxiety and Depression)

Background: Floor time therapy is the center of Greenspan developmental model. In Family-based of this model, to enhance the abilities of the child, family functioning is set the objective as a general unit, the purpose of this study was developing a Family-based Floor Time Therapy and evaluating its effectiveness on the developmental profile of children with interactive disorders. Materials and Methods: This research study was conducted according to the pretest-posttest design. The statistical population of the study consisted of all Mashhad preschoolers with depression and anxiety disorders along with their mothers. They were selected by using voluntary sampling and assigned to groups. In order to examine the effectiveness of therapy, the researcher–made instruments of Developmental Family Function Assessment Questionnaire and Greenspan Functional Emotional Developmental Scale were used. Results: According to the result there were significant differences between the control and floor time therapy groups of depressed children in developmental stages 4, 5 and 6 (P <0.05), between the floor time therapy and family-based floor time therapy groups in stage 4 (P<0.05), and between familybased floor time therapy and control groups in stage 6 (P<0.05). There were also significant differences between floor time therapy and family-based floor time therapy groups of anxious children in stage 1 (P<0.05), and between family-based floor time therapy and control groups in stages 1 and 4 (P<0.05). The results showed that there was a significant difference in developmental family function between the three groups of depressed children in stage 5 (P<0.05), and those of anxious children in stages 1, 2, 3, and 7 (P<0.05). Conclusion: Family-based floor time therapy, can increase the effectiveness of floor time therapy and be used as an effective therapy for the treatment of preschoolers with depression and anxiety disorders.