The efficacy of psychological interventions for children has long been debated among mental health professionals; however, only recently has this issue received national attention, with the U.S. Public Health Service (2000) emphasizing the critical need for early intervention and empirically validated treatments tailored to children's maturational needs. Play therapy is a developmentally responsive intervention widely used by child therapists but often criticized for lacking an adequate research base to support its growing practice. A meta-analysis of 93 controlled outcome studies (published 1953-2000) was conducted to assess the overall efficacy of play therapy and to determine factors that might impact its effectiveness. The overall treatment effect for play therapy interventions was 0.80 standard deviations. Further analysis revealed that effects were more positive for humanistic than for nonhumanistic treatments and that using parents in play therapy produced the largest effects. Play therapy appeared equally effective across age, gender, and presenting issue.

No abstract

The authors explored the overall effectiveness of child‐centered play therapy (CCPT) approaches through a meta‐analytic review of 52 controlled outcome studies between 1995 and 2010. Hierarchical linear modeling techniques estimated a statistically significant moderate treatment effect size (.47) for CCPT, as well as statistically significant relationships between effect size and study characteristics, including child's age, child's ethnicity, caregiver involvement, treatment integrity, publication status, and presenting issue.

The rationale for filial therapy is explored and the effectiveness of a ten week filial therapy parent training group for single parents is described. Research procedures and instruments utilized are presented. Results of the analyses of covariance revealed that the single parents in the experimental group significantly increased both their attitude of acceptance and their empathic behavior toward their children, significantly reduced their level of stress related to parenting, and reported significantly fewer problems with their children's behavior.

Literature suggests that traumatized children exhibit a type of play that is distinct from the play behaviors of other children (Terr, 1983). The purpose of this study was the development of an instrument designed to detect differences in the play therapy behaviors of children with a history of trauma versus children with no known history of trauma.The study consisted of two phases; the instrument development and pilot study phases. The researcher followed Hill's (1991) guidelines for instrument development. The scale was designed so that raters could rate a child's behavior, via videotaped play therapy sessions, at five minute intervals. The scale consisted of the following domains: Intense Play, Repetitive Play, Play Disruptions, Avoidant Play Behavior, and Negative Affect. The Average Trauma Play Scale Score is an average of scores across these domains.During the pilot study phase, the researcher evaluated the scale in terms of reliability, face validity, and discriminant validity. Subjects were twelve children; six had a history of trauma and six had no known trauma history. Five trained raters rated eight consecutive videotaped play therapy sessions for each participant. One-way and repeated measures analysis of variance statistics, including effect sizes, were used to detect differences between the groups.Percentage agreement and correlational estimates of interrater reliability suggest that raters are able to acheive consensus and consistency in their ratings. Quantitative and qualitative feedback from experts in the field of play therapy provide strong support for the face validity of the scale. Statistical analyses indicate that the Trauma Play Scale has a high degree of discriminant validity. Traumatized children scored higher on the Trauma Play Scale than nontraumatized children, as expected. Effect size estimates indicate strong relationships between participants' trauma history status and their Average Trauma Play Scale scores. In post-hoc analyses, the Repetitive Play Domain was omitted from the aggregate score; this analysis uncovered statistically significant differences between the two groups.ii