Abstract

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the psychodrama group therapy on the quality of life and depression of mothers whose children have been diagnosed with T1DM, to retrieve a new relationship of mutually interactive roles in the relationship between mothers who have necessarily regressed to physiological roles with children who have been diagnosed with T1DM, and to raise the adaptability of mothers.

Method: Group study with mothers with children with type 1 diabetes was consisted of 22 sessions. Fourteen individuals were included in the study: six in the therapy group and eight in the control group. The convergent parallel design, a mixed research method was used in the study. The quantitative data from the research were acquired using a “Personal Information Form”, “Beck Depression Inventory Scale (BDI)”, and “World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Turkish Version (WHOQOL-BREF-TR)”. The qualitative research data were collected using “Group Records Subjected to a Qualitative Content Analysis” and the “Social Atom Orbit Content” of participants acquired in the group application with Moreno’s social atom orbit.

Results: In the study, a statistically significant decrease was found between the BDI of the group members who participated in psychodrama application pre-test post-test scores (p<0.05). It was determined that WHOQOL-BREF-TR scale scores in the therapy group increased in the posttest. In this study, the mother-child relationship was redefined by using psychodrama techniques. The formerly regressed relationship has now been transformed to a relationship of mutual contact.

Conclusion: The results of our group study demonstrated that administering the psychodrama technique reduces the levels of depression in mothers with children diagnosed with T1DM, increased their quality of life scores, and was effective in harmonizing with the lives and other roles in life of the mothers.