Effectiveness of child-centered play therapy with Japanese children in the United States.

摘要

This study explored the use of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) as a culturally responsive intervention and a prevention treatment method for the psychosocial well-being of Japanese children in the United States. In light of the demand for the evidence-based therapeutic treatment for children as well as the need to conduct multicultural research without ignoring within-group differences, this study was composed of two research methodologies; quantitative research design and individual analysis. Single-group repeated measures ANOVA was utilized for the group analysis and linear regression was employed for individual analysis in addition to qualitative data obtained through parent feedback and the researcher's observation of play therapy sessions. The participating children received a total of eight CCPT sessions.;The impact of CCPT was measured by a decrease in a child's behavioral problems perceived by a parent measured by scores of the Internalizing Problems, Externalizing Problems and Total Problems on the Child Behavioral Checklist and a reduction of parent-child relationship stress manifested in the Child Domain, Parent Domain and Total Stress Score of the Parenting Stress Index. Data from a total of the four assessment points; the baseline, pretest, second assessment, and third assessment, was gathered for use in the analysis.;A total of 16 children were recruited from the Japanese School of Dallas for participation in this study. However, some children did not complete the entire set of 8 play therapy sessions, and as a consequence, neither were all assessments completed by their parents. Therefore, data from 10 children, age ranging from 4 to 9, were utilized for the statistical analysis.;The results of the analysis did not reveal any statistical significance. However, large and medium effect sizes were obtained on all the six aforementioned subscales during the treatment period. Individual analysis provided further information on possible environmental, developmental, and cultural factors that are considered influential issues on the change of individual scores.