Individual and Group Child-Centered Play Therapy: Impact on Social-Emotional Competencies

Abstract

The authors conducted a randomized controlled trial study with 56 elementary school children to test the effectiveness of 16 sessions of individual and group child-centered play therapy (CCPT) in improving social-emotional assets, including self-regulation/responsibility, social competence, and empathy. Parent reports indicated that treatment in both CCPT conditions was correlated with substantial gains in overall social-emotional assets and in the constructs of self-regulation/responsibility and social competence.