The Effects of Meaning-centered Play on Spiritual Sensitivity of Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Maryam Fazlollahi, Monir Ramezani, Seyed Mohsen Asghari Nekah and 2 others
PMID 35005040WHAT IT FOUND
Children in a six-week meaning-centered play program reported higher spiritual sensitivity than children who continued usual center activities.
The play used stories, drama, painting, music and reflection.
Key findings
01After the intervention, the play group had significantly greater total spiritual sensitivity and subscale scores than the control group.
02Spiritual sensitivity and all four subscales increased significantly in the play group but not in the control group.
03All 120 recruited children completed the study.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The outcome was children's self-reported spiritual sensitivity, not a health, behavior, mood or clinical outcome. The children were aged 10-11 years, healthy, living with both parents, and without special educational needs, so the results may not apply to younger, older, or ill children. Only two centers in Mashhad, Iran, were used, one assigned to each group, so differences between the centers themselves cannot be ruled out. The intervention was added to routine center programs and included many play elements, so the study cannot show which component produced the change. The program used God, Quran verses, Islamic sciences and Iranian cultural assumptions, so it may not transfer to other cultural or religious settings. The researcher who led the sessions and collected questionnaires was not blinded.
Declared interests
The university research deputy funded the study, with grant 941659, and the authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that meaning-centered play improves health or outcomes in sick children. This trial measured only self-reported spiritual sensitivity in healthy children, and the play was added to routine center programs with many components, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated.