The problem of this study was an attempt to appraise critically the effectiveness of client-centered play therapy as a counseling technique. In order to ascertain the effects of client-centered play therapy with children who have emotional problems, learning difficulties, and behavior problems, this study was conducted.

The threefold purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which counseling seminary students' beliefs corresponded to the tenets of child-centered play therapy, the amount of training seminary counseling students received in the area of child counseling and play therapy, and the applicability of child-centered play therapy courses in seminary counselor education programs. The researcher pursued this purpose through administration of a survey instrument she developed. The instrument consisted of 22 demographic items and 23 5-point Likert scale items based on the tenets of child-centered play therapy. The sample was comprised of 206 seminary counseling students from 12 Christian seminaries across the United States: 155 female and 51 male participants ranging in age from 21 to 60 years old and including 5.3% African American, 3.9% Asian, 1.5% Biracial/Multiracial, 3.4% Hispanic, 83% White (Non-Hispanic), 2.4% Other. Multiple regression analysis was utilized to determine which demographic variables were significant predictors of respondents' beliefs regarding child-centered play therapy. Results indicated significance at p < .05 level. Specifically, respondents who reported feeling more prepared to counsel children reported beliefs more congruent with child-centered play therapy, and respondents from the Southwestern and Southeastern portions of the United States exhibited beliefs less congruent with child-centered play therapy. Respondents' reports of their gender, age, denominational grouping, counseling theory, previous training to work with children, parental status, and future plans to counsel children did not significantly predict beliefs corresponding to child-centered play therapy. Descriptive data revealed that 83.5% of respondents intended to counsel children after completing their graduate studies, yet only 20.4% of respondents reported having completed coursework in child counseling; thus, they appeared inadequately prepared to work with this specialized population. Implications for seminary counselor education programs are discussed.

Relationships between feminism, clinical feminism, and professional characteristics of counselors were examined. A gender-proportional probability sample of Marriage, Family and Child Counselors (MFCCs) received a 3 part mail survey: (a) the Attitudes toward Women Scale (AWS) short form, measuring feminism, (b) the Feminist Family Therapy Literature Survey (FLS) assessing reading in the field, and (c) a background form eliciting characteristics of MFCCs' current practice. AWS scores did not differentiate between feminists and nonfeminists, requiring item analysis and manipulation of the factor space. The data were thus distributed between 4 categories: Strongly and Mildly Profeminist, and Strongly and Mildly Nonfeminist. The items were also reclassified for descriptive purposes relevant to today's feminism: Economic behavior, Family behavior, Legal behavior, Leadership behavior, and Social behavior. Due to almost complete ignorance of the feminist critique of family therapy, homogeneity in FLS data further contributed to ineffective Pearson correlations. It was determined that the feminist critique of family therapy has had virtually no impact on the current self-reported practice of MFCCs. Clinical feminism may be practiced by up to 5% of the sample, at least 95% retaining theoretical systems no longer useful in light of the sweeping social changes of the last 2 decades. Approximately 35% of the sample's gender-relevant beliefs were nonfeminist, a condition of fair weather feminism prevailing: feminist principles were likely to be abandoned in a clinical context. Various theoretical orientations may differentially mediate feminism. Feminist literature proportionally influenced more women than men, and a greater proportion of women were more profeminist than were men. Few MFCCs specialize primarily in family therapy, individual therapy being the preferred treatment mode. Finally, support was found for the feminist argument that it is within women's personal lives that their oppression is enacted and reproduced.

The current study sought to explore play therapists' barriers to engaging parents in their clinical work as well as understand the relationship between play therapist characteristics and their attitudes toward parents. Using a demographic questionnaire, Therapist Barriers to Engaging Parents (TBEP), and the Counseling Self- Estimate Inventory (COSE), 136 members of the Association for Play Therapy were surveyed to explore predictors to engaging with parents. Overall, play therapists reported low scores on barriers to engaging parents indicating play therapists are likely to report positive attitudes toward working with parents. Through two multiple regression analyses measuring the predictive value of self-efficacy subscales including Dealing with Difficult Clients and Counseling Process, play therapist identification as a parent, years of experience, and hours of training on parent engagement, both models demonstrated statistically significant findings with large effect sizes. This study found that play therapist self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of play therapists' attitudes toward parents accounting for approximately 80% of the variance in the models. Play therapists' identification as a parent as well as years of practice also predicted their barriers to engaging parents. Hours of training in parent engagement had no relationship to TBEP scores. Implications for practice include a need to provide play therapists with training experiences that involve working with parents directly rather than traditional training models, as well as attend to general counseling self-efficacy of play therapists. Implications for future research as well as limitations are discussed.

In this study, I examined the impact of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) on the social and emotional functioning and mindful expressions of preschoolers in Head Start preschool programs. Participants were 23 children from two Head Start preschool programs in the southwestern U.S. who qualified for free or reduced lunch and were referred by school personnel for behavioral or academic concerns (18 males, 5 females; ages 3-5, mean age = 3.74). The sample consisted of 1 (4.3%) African American, 5 (21.7%) Caucasian, 14 (60.9%) Latino, and 3 (13%) multiracial children. Participants were randomly assigned to eight weeks of twice-weekly CCPT experimental groups (n = 11) or a waitlist control group (n = 12). Results of the independent samples t-tests revealed statistically significant improvement in preschool children's empathy and responsibility for children who participated in CCPT on the Social Emotional Assets and Resiliency Scale for Preschool. Practically significant findings revealed that CCPT may influence specific mindful expressions including curiosity and openness as well as overall social-emotional competence, emotional knowledge and expression, and empathy and responsibility in Head Start preschool children. Results of this study support the effectiveness of CCPT with disadvantaged preschool children.