본 연구는 모래놀이를 통한 심리 상담이 어떻게 심층면담의 새로운 기법으로 활용될 수 있는지를 규명하고자 하였다. 이를 위하여 모래이야기면담이 실천되고 있는 현장에서 다양한 질적자료 수집과 분석을 실시하였다. 그 결과 심층면담으로써 모래이야기면담이 갖는 질적 특징을 드러낼 수 있었다. 모래이야기면담에는 일반적인 심층면담과 구별되는 다섯 가지 특징이 있었다. 그것은 연구 참여자의 무의식을 탐구하기, 비구조화된 면담 지향하기, 글쓰기와 생애사 탐구하기, 연구자와 연구 참여자가 공동으로 의미 찾기, 연구 참여자의 발달 강조하기였다. 한편, 모래이야기면담을 활용한 결과 그 시사점으로 연구 참여자 진술의 진실성을 검증, 면담에 대한 심리적인 부담 감소, 연구 참여자와 연구자 모두에게 심리적 성숙의 기회를 제공이라는 요소를 찾아낼 수 있었다. 이처럼 모래이야기면담을 통한 질적연구에서 분명한 가능성을 찾을 수 있었다. 특히 유아 및 아동을 위한 상담, 생애전환기 성인을 위한 상담, 노인의 생애사 정리를 위한 상담 등의 주제와 관련하여 모래이야기면담은 유용한 기법들을 제시할 것으로 기대된다.
In this study, the theoretical and the substantial investigation were performed on the sandplay narrative interview, one of the techniques of in-depth interview to identify entire processes of sandplay narrative interview and discover the detained characteristics and possibilities. The participants discovered the answers related to the subject of inquiry undergoing the 5 stages of chaos and differentiation, conflict and struggle, realization, reconciliation and application, and exploration of life histories. Through the research process, the five characteristics of the sandplay narrative interview differentiated from general in-depth interview were discovered. First, the subconscious desire, belief, etc. of the participants were explored together with the conscious expressions. Sandplay could be an apparatus to conduct flexible and wellbalanced interview as it is capable of reliving the tension appropriately about the topic that the subject wants or does not want to speak about. Second, the sandplay narrative interview enabled collection of more abundant and unique narratives, adopting thoroughly unstructured interview. Third, in sandplay, it is capable of collecting various narrative through diverse methods such as writing and life history. Fourth, the participants engaged as much as the research did in the process of analyzing and drawing the meanings. Fifth, sandplay narrative interview was intended to apply the results immediately to the life of participants. The researcher provided active helps so that the participants could perceive things differently in life and achieve the improvement of relationship with the family, coworkers and friends, instead of simply understanding the ups and downs in life. In the meantime, the sandplay narrative interview is a method to look into true inner-self of participants, by helping the participants reveal the subconsciousness, utilizing the sand box, figure, etc. Furthermore, it required the researcher to present the story explaining the sand box directly, differently from the existing indepth interview, which relied solely on the narrative coming out from people’s consciousness. With the method, the researcher was able to understand if their answers on the specific research topics and questions really reflected the mind of participants and what made them think that way. Also, the sandplay narrative interview contributed to reducing psychological burden that the participants might generally have for the research and the interview by adopting the specific ways of sandplay. They told the story related to the research topics naturally, helping them freely talk what they wanted to the sand box instead of having the feeling of pressure or repulsion. Although all the individual sessions of the interview were planned for 1 hour or longer, no case was reported that research process was interrupted or the participant complained about being board and this should be considered positively. Another positive factor was that the research provided an opportunity for both the researcher and the participants to become psychologically more matured. All the participants identified their subconsciousness that had been the root of external problem and made them differentiated from others. These factors appeared as obvious advantage in the aspect of research ethics.As such, the sandplay narrative interview showed positive factors as a method of qualitative research. It is expected that the sandplay narrative interview would present useful techniques for topics like counseling particularly for the infants and children, organizing elders’ life history and others. As a research, I look forward to seeing many research cases utilizing the sandplay narrative interview in the future.