PLAY THERAPY RESEARCH: What’s Coming Up?


BY DEE C. RAY, PH.D., LPC-S, NCC, RPT-S


esearch in play therapy has come a long way in the past decade. Last year, the Association for Play Therapy published on their website the Evidence-Based Practice Statement (http://www.a4pt. org/?page=EvidenceBased) highlighting four meta-analyses and 19 randomized controlled trials supporting the beneficial


effects of play therapy. In the last year, multiple play therapy studies demonstrated the positive outcomes of individual and group play therapy on social, emotional, and academic development of children. We have come a long way, but we have a long way to go. Although we can now show demonstrable positive effects of play therapy, we are challenged with disseminating this information to funding sources and the general public. Recently, the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) reviewed and accepted Filial Family Therapy as an effective therapy for improving family-child relationships and a promising therapy for improving parenting skills, self-concept, and social competence. This development represents a big leap forward for play therapy as it is the first intervention in NREPP that cites play therapy in its primary description. NREPP is currently reviewing the evidence for Child-Centered Play Therapy and Child Parent Relationship Therapy and we hope to hear good news soon on the inclusion of these therapies as effective.


In an effort to continue progress, we


will be holding a Research Forum at the upcoming APT conference on Wednesday, October 5, 4:30-6:30. The purpose of the research forum is two-fold: 1) to update our membership on the current state of play therapy research, and 2) to encourage members


to engage in research promoting the process and practice of play therapy. We hope to make research “real” for our members by including a panel of APT members that regularly conduct play therapy research. These panel experts will briefly share their most recent findings, but most importantly, they will discuss the ways in which they work and the real-life obstacles they face in conducting research. In genuinely addressing the complexities of researching play therapy, we hope to motivate members by offering and discussing solutions to our perplexing challenges. Our panel consists of well-published authors in qualitative and quantitative research, including Dr. Sue Bratton, Dr. Natalya Lindo, Dr. Janet Courtney, and Dr. April Schottelkorb. They will lead us in an in-depth look at what it means to produce quality and meaningful play therapy research. Zora Neale Hurston, the famous American novelist, wrote, “Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” Please join us to do a little poking and prying about our favorite subject of play therapy.


Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.


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PLAYTHERAPY | September 2016 | www.a4pt.org


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