The field of play therapy is rapidly growing and has been recognized as an evidence-based practice. As the field continues to grow, there is an increasing need to examine publication trends in this field to better understand areas of strengths and potential for improvements. To accomplish this goal, we conducted a content analysis of play therapy articles that were published within the years 2008–2017. Publication trends revealed seven themes that all articles fell under, with the theory/approach theme having the most articles (44.6%). There were mixed results between research and non-research articles with some topics having more research articles and other topics having more non-research articles. Unfortunately, all topics severely lacked articles with a multicultural focus. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Older adopted children and their families often express high need for support for attachment and trauma related concerns. Postadoption mental health intervention focused on enhancing the parent–child relationship among adoptive parents and adoptees is essential for fostering placement permanency among these families. This single group pilot study explored the effect of child–parent relationship therapy (CPRT) for adoptive parents of preadolescents who reported attachment related concerns, stress in the parent–child relationship, and child behavior problems. Participants were adoptive parents with adoptees between the ages of 8 to 14 adopted out of foster care. Data was collected at baseline, pretest, midtest, and posttest. Results from nonparametric Friedman test of differences across 4 points of measure indicated that CPRT demonstrated statistically significant improvement for the 3 outcome variables: parental empathy, child behavior, and parent child relationship stress. Specifically, results indicated that prior to receiving CPRT (baseline to pretest), parents demonstrated no change or worsening in functioning across all variables, whereas during the intervention phase findings showed a large treatment effect for parental empathy, a medium effect for parenting stress, and a small effect for child behavior problems. Findings from this pilot study support CPRT as a promising mental health intervention for adoptive parents and preadolescent children. Clinical implications and recommendations for working with adoptive parents of preadolescents are explored within the context of these findings.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics
  

Few studies have explored mental health treatment programs for Aboriginal Australian children under the age of 12 years old. Isolated locations, coupled with therapy modalities that are not developmentally and culturally suitable for children who have experienced adversities, exacerbate the typical challenges in providing health services needed for optimum child development. Therapeutic services offered in Aboriginal communities typically follow a traditional delivery of therapy, meeting no more than once a week, or less,as remoteness increases. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the effectiveness of an intensive child-centered play therapy (iCCPT) program in a remote Aboriginal community with children who have experienced adversity. Pre- and post measures, utilizing Goodman’s (1997)Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, were collected from parents and teachers. Semi structured interviews were conducted with parents who participated in the program after the intervention ended. Nine child participants attended an average of 15sessions in a 10-day format. Total difficulties, as reported by both parents and teachers,diminished after the program. In particular, emotional problems, as rated by teachers,decreased over time. If replicated in a randomized control trial, these findings would suggest that an iCCPT program may be feasible and effective in remote Australian Aboriginal communities.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics
  

The importance of professional helpers’ wellness and self-care has received significant attention in the past decade and is even considered an ethical obligation by many organizations for professional helpers. Play therapists, compared with providers of other treatment modalities, might be more susceptible to professional and personal impairment because they bear witness to children’s experiences through the process of play therapy, which can illicit strong emotional reactions from the client and from the therapist. They may also be at a heightened risk be cause of their nature to want to protect and nurture children. Yet no published accounts of research were found to elaborate specifically on play therapists’ wellness attitudes and experiences. We surveyed Registered Play Therapists and Registered Play Therapist-Supervisors about their perceptions, practices, and suggestions for wellness and self-care. Results provide preliminary and exploratory data, implications for play therapists and supervisors, and suggestions for more research on this topic.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics
  

Children experience a multitude of benefits in response to interactions with nature. Despite documented effects, children have increasingly spent less time outdoors over the last century and experienced higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses. Although child-centered play therapy (CCPT) is a culturally and developmentally responsive mental health treatment for children, researchers have limited study of environmental structure and materials employed in the therapeutic process of CCPT. In this study, the researcher sought to further research on the integration of nature with CCPT by providing CCPT in an outdoor, contained playroom equipped with traditional CCPT toys and additional nature materials. Participants were 13 children in the southwestern U.S. with parent-reported attentional or self-regulation concerns (9 males, 6 females; ages 5-10, M = 8). Parents reported participants’ racial identities were 13% Black (n = 2), 13% Latinx (n = 2), 7% Turkish (n = 1), and 67% White (n =10). Participants received eight weeks of twice-weekly CCPT in an outdoor playroom. Results of two repeated measures ANOVAs revealed statistically significant improvement in attention on the Brown EF/A Scales and in social-emotional competencies on the SEARS-P. Results of this study illustrate the possible benefits of theoretically integrating CCPT and nature and the clinical impacts the novel approach could have on children’s attention and social-emotional competencies. The study also provided insight into the viability of providing an outdoor CCPT intervention at a larger scale and some problems that may arise in creating and maintaining an outdoor playroom.

Walker, K. L. A., & Ray, D. C. (2024). Outdoor child-centered play therapy: A pilot study on outcomes. International Journal of Play Therapy, 33(1), 52–63. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000213

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
• Special Topics

As rates of children attempting and dying by suicide accelerate in the United States, it is imperative that play therapists increase their competency to address childhood suicidality. This manuscript provides evidence-based data on this phenomenon and is a call to action inviting play therapists to cultivate awareness, knowledge, skills, and advocacy competencies to address childhood suicide and create positive change. The authors offer a cross-culturally adaptive screening and assessment tool for use by play therapists working with children with suicidal ideation. A case vignette demonstrates integrating the screening tool during play therapy, and the manuscript concludes with suicide prevention strategies for play therapists.

Brammer, M. K., Stark, C., Suri, T., & Brown, E. C. (2023). Childhood suicide: A call to action for play therapists. International Journal of Play Therapy, 32(4), 243–257. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000202

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics
• Cultural and Social Diversity

Integrating Theory, Evidence and Action (ITEA) is a type of systematic review methodology, which was used to investigate the underlying agents of therapeutic change in one filial therapy approach, Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT). The Therapeutic Powers of Play (TPoP) framework was applied to recent peer-reviewed journal articles to extract evidence that TPoP are activated in CPRT. Data were deconstructed to determine the prevalence of TPoP within each sub-system of therapy: the child, parent, therapist, their relationships, and family environment. Meta-analyses revealed that play therapy with full parental involvement (filial therapy) yielded greater effect size than partial or no parental involvement (Lin & Bratton, 2021). Greater understanding about the mechanism of change in filial therapy may allow therapists to enhance the intervention and understand modifications necessary to individualise treatments for specific presenting problems or populations. A diagram will be presented to conceptualise the sequences and sub-systems in CPRT. This study highlights that filial therapy is a developmentally sensitive intervention which facilitates therapeutic change across the lifespan and throughout family systems. Filial therapy activates all TPoP except counter-conditioning fears. The highest number of TPoP were evidenced within the parent-child relationship. Filial therapy facilitates change in social relationships in families through activating attachment, social competence, empathy, and therapeutic relationships. Explicit integration of TPoP through development of a TPoP goal-setting tool, or providing specific feedback about observed activation of TPoP could potentially further strengthen the therapeutic effect of filial therapy. Further observational assessment is recommended to identify the prevalence of implicitly activated TPoP.

Griffin, L., & Parson, J. (2023). Evidencing the therapeutic powers of play to understand the mechanism of change in filial therapy. International Journal of Play Therapy, 32(2), 107–121. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000193

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
• Special Topics

The therapeutic value of games in therapy has been well-established and is a common practice among clinicians, especially those working with children and families. However, an underlying assumption is that games are universal, without attention to the role of culture. The incorporation of traditional cultural games, such as Lotería, brings the benefits of game play with the addition of cultural sensitivity. Lotería is a traditional Mexican game, similar to Bingo, that is recognizable and accessible within the Mexican/Mexican-American community. Mental health disparities among Latinx populations, and Mexican/Mexican-Americans specifically, have been well documented and exacerbated with the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we will discuss how the game Lotería helps to address the needs of this community, outlining the theoretical underpinnings of the approach, providing a detailed didactic application of the game, as well as presenting a case study to illustrate these components. This is all framed within the context of the pandemic, attending to both in-person and virtual applications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Llamas, J. D., & Alvarado, C. (2023). More than just a game: Using Lotería in play therapy with Mexican/Mexican American clients. International Journal of Play Therapy, 32(1), 51–62. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000185

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Social and Cultural Diversity

The population in the United States is becoming more racially diverse. Young children in minoritized groups have many disadvantages due to circumstances beyond their control. They experience more poverty (US Census Bureau, 2017), unequal educational opportunities (US Census Bureau, 2019), discriminatory practices (Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009), trauma (Sacks & Murphey, 2018), mental health diagnoses, and inadequate mental health services. Mental health professionals who work with children, specifically play therapists, must be more responsive to the needs of these young children through both clinical works and social justice advocacy. To support racially diverse children, to support therapists in offering services, and to advocate on behalf of children, researchers need to explore factors that may influence their social justice advocacy attitudes. The purpose of this study was to examine how adverse childhood experiences, attitudes related to trauma-informed care, and cultural humility were related to social justice advocacy attitudes among play therapists. A standard multiple regression was utilized ( N= 409). Results indicated that attitudes related to trauma-informed care and cultural humility contributed significantly to the prediction of social justice advocacy attitudes, accounting for 11% of the variance. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics
• Cultural and Social Diversity

This retrospective case study examined the impact of short-term child-centered play therapy on health-related quality of life in the context of pediatric chronic illness. Specifically, PedsQLTM and satisfaction data was collected pre- and post- intervention, which included 10 sessions of individual play therapy, caregiver consultations, and provider collaboration for a child with a rare pulmonary disorder with a high treatment burden, including frequent hospitalizations and invasive procedures. Results revealed marked improvement across all domains of HRQOL for this patient. Participation in play therapy corresponded with notably improved quality of life as well as ability to successfully participate in medical treatment, thus supporting this patient’s health progress as well as social-emotional function.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
• Special Topics