Effectiveness of play therapy-based on Child parent relation therapy on the quality of maternal care and self-control of children with behavioral problems

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of play therapy-based on Child parent relation therapy on the quality of maternal care and self-control of children with behavioral problems. The research method was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population of the present study included all mothers with children with behavioral problems aged 6 to 9 years who were referred to Tabassum Counseling Center in Shahriar in 2020. 24 mothers were selected by convenience sampling based on inclusion criteria and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (12 in the experimental group and 12 in the control group). The Landreth’s Child parent relation therapy training program was performed in 10 sessions of 2 hours per week for the experimental group and the control group remained on the waiting list. Data collection tools included maternal care quality questionnaire and self-control questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using univariate and multivariate covariance analysis. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the maternal care quality and child self-control. Findings showed that play therapy based on Child parent relation therapy has a positive effect on the maternal care quality and increases children's self-control (p <0.05). The findings of this study show the effectiveness of Child parent relation therapy on child self-control and maternal care quality. Therefore, it is suggested that psychologists and therapists use this method to improve maternal care quality and increase self-control in children.