Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Art-Play Therapy and Play Therapy based on Child-Parent Relationships among Single Parents’ Children

Single-parent children are among the children who need serious attention from the therapeutic and training community. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral art-play therapy and play therapy based on child-parent relationships on the quality of child-parent interactions among single parents’ children.

The research method was two stages quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test and a control group. 54 single parents’ children were selected through purposive sampling and then randomly assigned to two intervening groups and a control group (each with 18 children). The child-parent interactions Questionnaire was used to measure the dependent variable. Cognitive-behavioral art-play therapy and play therapy based on child-parent relationships groups were treated in 10 sessions (90 to 120 minutes in each session) respectively, and the control group did not receive any treatment.

In the quality of child-parent interactions variable there was a significant difference between cognitive-behavioral art-play therapy and play therapy based on child-parent relationships with the control group (P<0.01). Also, there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral art-play therapy and play therapy based on the quality of child-parent relationships on quality of child-parent interactions (P>0.05).

Due to the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral art-play therapy and play therapy based on parent-child relationships on increasing the quality of parent-child interactions, it is recommended to use these two therapies in treatment centers for single-parent children.