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.

Play therapy has long been criticized for a lack of adequate research base to prove its efficacy. For 6 decades, while play therapists conducted small research studies, critics challenged the utility and efficacy of play therapy as a viable psychotherapy intervention. The purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis of 94 research studies focusing on the efficacy of play therapy, filial therapy, and combined play therapy and filial therapy. Meta-analysis revealed a large positive effect on treatment outcomes with children. Play therapy appeared effective across modality, age, gender, clinical vs. nonclinical populations, setting, and theoretical schools of thought. Additionally, positive play therapy effects were found to be greatest when there was parent involvement in treatment and an optimal number of sessions provided.

Filial therapy has been used since the early 1960s to train parents as therapeutic agents for children experiencing a broad range of social, emotional and behavioral difficulties. Using a pretest-posttest control group design, this study examined the efficacy of a filial therapy model in training high school students to be effective helpers with young children experiencing school adjustment difficulties. High school students enrolled in a Peer Assistance and Leadership course titled PALs were trained to become therapeutic change agents for identified pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. The PALs students received training and supervision in child-centered play therapy skills that they practiced in weekly play sessions with their assigned child. Results from the statistical analyses revealed that the experimental group of high school students receiving filial therapy training demonstrated a significant increase in their empathic interactions with children and that the experimental group of children receiving the play therapy intervention experienced a significant reduction in problem behaviors.

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