The effectiveness of child-centered play therapy on behavior problems of children

Abstract

This study aims to examine Child-Centered Play Therapy's effect on reducing behavioral problems in five- and six-year-old children living in Istanbul. The study was conducted with 20 children from socio-economically disadvantaged families. Families applied for support to a play therapy room established in a primary school. A pre-test and post-test control group design is used. Child-Centered Play Therapy sessions were implemented in the experimental group for eight weeks as individual sessions. Data due to the children's behavior problems were collected from parents via the “Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation-30 Scale” and the family pre-interview form. Mann Whitney-U Test and Wilcoxon Test analyzed data. Results of the experimental group (ingroup analyses) show a significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores of social competence, anger aggression, and anxiety withdrawal subscales, as hypothesized. However, analyses of between groups’ post-test comparisons show significant differences only in the social competence subscale. Between groups, post-test scores, comparisons of anger-aggression, and anxiety withdrawal subscales showed no significant differences. The results are discussed; additionally, observations of the researcher as a play therapist are presented.