Effectiveness of child-centered play therapy on reducing behavioralized problems of students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of child-centered game therapy on reducing the externalized problems of students. The present study was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test design with control group. The research population consisted of all 7-9 years-old students who were referred to counseling centers in Tehran due to behavioral problems and had been diagnosed in the evaluations with externalized problems. Using available sampling, 30 students who were diagnosed with behavioral problems during diagnostic interview with their parents, were evaluated by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). From among these students, 10 were selected who scored higher than the cut score as sample group. Finally, 5 of them were randomly assigned to the experiment group and 5 were assigned to the control group. Experiment group received 16 sessions of child-centered play therapy, while the control group did not receive any intervention. After the intervention, the two groups were evaluated again using the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL) as the post-test. Data were analyzed by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA (statistical model. Findings showed that child-centered play therapy reduces externalizing problems of students (P<0.01). According to the results of this study, it can be concluded that child-centered play therapy has been effective and this intervention can be used to reduce the externalizing behavioral problems.