The Meta Effect in Play Therapy Research
| DEE C. RAY, PHD, LPC-S, RPT-S & YUNG-WEI DENNIS LIN, PHD, LPC-C W
e have exciting news on the play therapy research front this month! Dr. Yung-Wei Dennis Lin will be co-chairing the APT research committee along with Dr. Dee Ray. Dr. Lin is an
Assistant Professor at New Jersey City University and pioneer in meta- analytic techniques applied to play therapy research. In this article, we would like to introduce play therapists to meta-analysis and what it means for the everyday practice of play therapy. Both of us have been involved in the interpretation of meta-analyses of play therapy for many years and seek to transform a complex statistical procedure to viable information for play therapists.
Over the course of 80 years, researchers have sought to prove that play research is that most randomized controlled studies, the type of studies that determine effectiveness, involve a small number of participants. This challenge typically limits researchers’ ability to generalize their research developed a promising solution: meta-analysis. By integrating statistical overcome the limitation of small sample size and generalize research
In play therapy research history, there are four meta-analytic studies examining play therapy effectiveness (e.g., Bratton, Ray, Rhine, & Jones, 2005; LeBlanc & Ritchie, 2001; Lin & Bratton, 2015; Ray, Armstrong, Balkin, & Jayne, 2015). Bratton et al. (2005) and LeBlanc and Ritchie (2001) explored the effectiveness of multiple play therapy approaches while Lin and Bratton (2015) and Ray et al. (2015) explored research outcomes on the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy (CCPT). These meta-analyses reviewed over 130 individual play therapy studies ranging from 1947 to 2011 and included over 5,000 children.
What do these four meta-analytic studies tell us? First of all, play therapy, including CCPT and school-based play therapy, is unquestionably effective for children in general. Among all the child participants included in these four meta-analyses, those who received play therapy treatment demonstrated more) than those who did not. If we use human IQ as an analogy, such improvement is similar to enhancing an IQ score by 5 to 12 points. More illustrated that play therapy is highly effective on reducing children’s overall behavioral problems, personality concerns, social adjustment concerns, anxiety/fear, developmental/adaptive concerns, and also enhancing
analytic studies also presented other substantial outcomes for clinicians to share. For example: • Play therapy is effective in a variety of settings, including school settings, outpatient clinics, residential settings, and critical-incident settings.
Clinicians who work with children in these settings may consider seeking play therapy instruction and practice in order to provide this evidence- based treatment.
• There is no gender difference in play therapy effect. Both male and female
• Play therapy is equally effective in individual and group treatment formats.
• Play therapy has been shown to be effective for children ages three to twelve years old. Children younger than 8 years of age particularly respond to CCPT with even greater effect than their older counterparts. children do not have adequate language capacity and need their natural means of communication, play, in their treatment process.
• Play therapy, especially CCPT, appears to be a culturally responsive play therapy with substantial positive effects. Researchers in play therapy have made a concentrated effort to study the effects of play therapy with diverse samples of participants.
• Positive effects of play therapy can be demonstrated after one session with optimal play therapy treatment effect falling within 30-40 sessions. Play therapists may need patience in their practices and should consider encouraging parents to have more patience for their children’s progress, too. involvement is extremely important in children’s treatment
• Parent
progress and can greatly enhance play therapy treatment outcomes. Thus, clinicians should consider involving parents in children’s play therapy treatment.
is undeniably an evidence-based treatment for children. We encourage their communities. And we encourage our play therapist researchers to “research on” in the journey to initiate and sustain effectiveness research on play therapy.
References therapy with children: A meta-analytic review of treatment outcomes. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 36, 367-390. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.36.4.376 LeBlanc, M., & Ritchie, M.
(2001). A meta-analysis of play therapy
outcomes. Counseling Psychology Quarterly, 14, 149-163. doi:10.1080/09515070110059142
Lin, Y., & Bratton, S. C. (2015). A meta-analytic review of child-centered play therapy approaches. Journal of Counseling and Development, 93, 45-58. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6676.2015.00180.x
Ray, D. C., Armstrong, S. A., Balkin, R. S., & Jayne, K. M. (2015). Child-centered play therapy in the schools: Review and meta-analysis. Psychology in the Schools, 52, 107-123. doi:10.1002/pits.21798
www.a4pt.org | September 2019 | PLAYTHERAPY | 3
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