Head start early mental health intervention: Effects of child-centered play therapy on disruptive behaviors.

Abstract

This pilot study examined the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) with 54 low income preschool children (42% African American, 39% Hispanic, and 18% Caucasian) identified with clinical levels of disruptive behaviors. Children were assigned to the experimental treatment, CCPT, or to the active control, reading mentoring (RM), through block randomization. Results from a 2 (group) × 3 (measures) split plot analysis of variance indicated that according to teachers blinded to children's treatment group assignment, experimental group children demonstrated a statistically significant decrease (p < .05) in disruptive behaviors compared with the RM group across 3 points of measurement. Post hoc analysis showed that children receiving CCPT demonstrated statistically significant decreases (p < .025) in aggression and attention problems. Regarding practical significance of the findings, CCPT demonstrated large ηp2 treatment effects ranging from .17 to .34. Of the 27 children receiving CCPT, 21 children moved from clinical levels of behavioral concern at pretest to more normative levels of functioning following treatment, thus establishing the clinical significance of CCPT as an early mental health intervention for at-risk children in Head Start.

The Efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy on Self Esteem of Children With Intellectual Disability

“…Similarly, the results of the study by Baggerly (2004) showed that child-centered play therapy increases children's selfesteem. In addition, the results of this research are in line with studies that indicate play therapy to be influential in reducing the behavioral problems among children [20,21,33] and studies that show group play therapy improves children's social skills [15], as well as with studies revealing play therapy to increase children's self-esteem [16].…”

“…Since a systematic literature review revealed that there have been no studies conducted that focused on the role of CBPT in enhancing self-esteem in children with intellectual disability [11,19], though it seems that attention to this issue may prevent incidence of more serious problems such as deviant behaviors [20], psychosomatic disorders [21] and depression with suicidal thinking [22] in such children in adulthood; this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of CBPT on self-esteem of children with intellectual disability.…”

Application of Standardized Observation Form in School Counselling in Taiwan: Exploratory Study with Children Exhibiting Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior Concerns

“…With limit setting, a child presenting externalizing behavioral concerns experiences different approaches to expressing feelings and behaviors that result in decreases in the child's oppositional behaviors (Trice-Black et al, 2013). The effectiveness of CCPT with externalizing behaviors has also been reported by previous researchers (Bratton et al, 2013;Cochran et al, 2011;Cochran, Cochran, Fuss, & Nordling, 2010;Ray et al, 2009;Schumann, 2010).…”

Play Therapy Research: Issues for 21st Century Progress

“…During the past few years, play therapy researchers have responded to the need for more rigorous empirical evidence to advance play therapy to higher placement in EBT criteria categories. One example is an RCT designed to examine child-centered play therapy (CCPT) for preschool children with clinical levels of disruptive behaviors (Bratton et al, 2013). This RCT met all five methods criteria outlined by Southam-Gerow and Prinstein (2014).…”

“…One experiment has met all five methods criteria, but it cannot be considered a level 1 treatment until another study of equal methodological caliber is conducted by a different research team. Another recent treatment study, conducted by some of the same authors and using almost identical study design as Bratton et al (2013), provided evidence for Adlerian play therapy as another level 2 treatment for disruptive behavior (Meany-Walen, Bratton, & Kottman, 2014). While the remainder of play therapy interventions published since the year 2000 remain at level 4, there has been a growing number of 21st-century experimental and quasi-experimental research studies indicating positive treatment effects for several presenting problems, including internalizing problems (Packman & Bratton, 2003), ADHD (Ray, Schottelkorb, & Tsai, 2007), trauma (Schottelkorb, Doumas, & Garcia, 2012;Tyndall-Lind, Landreth, & Giordano, 2001;Shen, 2002), academic problems (Blanco & Ray, 2011), delayed language skills (Danger & Landreth, 2005), teacher-child relationship problems (Ray, 2007;Ray, Henson, Schottelkorb, Brown, & Muro, 2008), and adaptation to medical problems (Bloch & Toker, 2008;Jones & Landreth, 2002;Li & Lopez, 2007;Tsai et al, 2013).…”