Effectiveness of Play Therapy and Story Therapy on Depression and Anxiety Skills among Children with Leukemia: A Comparative Study

Background: cancers are the most important cause of disease-related deaths, and children with leukemia have poor social skills and are very aggressive.objectives: this study aimed to compare the effects of play therapy and story therapy on social skills and aggression in children with leukemia.methods: this quasi-experimental study was conducted with a pretest-posttest design and a three-month follow-up. the statistical population included all children with leukemia referred to mahak center in 2019. the samples (n=45) were selected and equally divided into one control and two experimental groups. the follow-up stage was performed on all groups 3 months after the post-test. the research instruments included questionnaires, namely the children's aggression questionnaire and matson evaluation of social skills with youngsters. data were analyzed using repeated-measures anova. results: both treatments had a significant effect on social skills and aggression in leukemia children (p<0.05), compared to the control group. however, play therapy had a greater impact on social skills and aggression than story therapy (p<0.05).conclusion: the effectiveness of play therapy was more than story therapy on social skills and aggression in leukemia children; consequently, play therapy is recommended for children.