The Efficacy of Play Therapy With Children: A Meta-Analytic Review of Treatment Outcomes.

Abstract

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.

Development of the Trauma Play Scale: Comparison of children manifesting a history of interpersonal trauma with a normative sample.

“…Ray (2006) provided a more updated review of play therapy research, again showing its effectiveness with a variety of issues and populations. Bratton, Ray, Rhine, and Jones (2005) conducted a meta-analysis of 93 controlled play therapy outcome studies involving children and found an overall treatment effect of .80 standard deviations, considered a large effect (Cohen, 1988). This finding indicates that after receiving play therapy, children performed .80 standard deviations above children who did not receive play therapy.…”

“…Most CCPT therapists strongly agree that child mental health service personnel need to be responsive to the developmental level of children in both assessment and in treatment (Bratton, et al, 2008;Bratton, et al, 2005). Many experts in trauma believe a reciprocal relationship exists between trauma and a child's developmental level (James, 1989;van der Kolk, 1994;Shelby, 1999;Shelby & Felix, 2005).…”

More than child’s play: the potential benefits of play-based interventions for young children with ADHD

“…This treatment, which originated with Anna Freud and Melanie Klein, and was subsequently developed by Axline, Landreth and others, uses play as the primary way in which a child expresses him/herself and communicates with the therapist [1]. From this perspective, in the context of a safe therapeutic relationship, during play with the therapist children express their feelings and learn more adaptive strategies to manage their distress and improve their level of functioning [1].…”

Adaptation of the Child−Parent Relationship Therapy Model for use with senior citizen volunteers in school settings: A pilot study.

“…In a well-known study by Bratton, Ray, Rhine, and Jones (2005), the researchers concluded that CPRT had an effect size of 1.25, making it one of the most effective forms of treatment in the child psychotherapy field. CPRT has been associated with decreases in internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, and facilitation of academic success (Landreth & Bratton, 2006).…”