Making the Child's World: Fostering Permanence, is a redefining, reordering and recalibration of the planning of a centre for children in transition within the child welfare system that would operate alongside foster homes. It is not a prescription for the ideal building design. Instead it is a proposition for a set of standards and qualities necessary of a child-centered environment; one where the child can be comfortable and secure, in the face of his or her family circumstances. <br /><br /> This thesis discusses the period between infancy and school age as crucial in the physical and emotional development of children; a time when they first establish concepts of space, relationships, and feelings. Each environment and social interaction experienced plays a large role in a child's development, both socially and physically. The dynamics, scale and intimacy of Play Therapy need to infiltrate the architectural strategy of this type of centre so that the centre itself adopts the values of Play Therapy, enabling the physical environment to act as a rehabilitative tool in the Play Therapy Programme.

Making the Child's World: Fostering Permanence, is a redefining, reordering and recalibration of the planning of a centre for children in transition within the child welfare system that would operate alongside foster homes. It is not a prescription for the ideal building design. Instead it is a proposition for a set of standards and qualities necessary of a child-centered environment; one where the child can be comfortable and secure, in the face of his or her family circumstances. <br /><br /> This thesis discusses the period between infancy and school age as crucial in the physical and emotional development of children; a time when they first establish concepts of space, relationships, and feelings. Each environment and social interaction experienced plays a large role in a child's development, both socially and physically. The dynamics, scale and intimacy of Play Therapy need to infiltrate the architectural strategy of this type of centre so that the centre itself adopts the values of Play Therapy, enabling the physical environment to act as a rehabilitative tool in the Play Therapy Programme.

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This study examined the relationship between perfectionism and parenting styles among 194 male youth soccer players (M age = 13.64 years). Participants completed the Sport Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale-2 (Sport-MPS-2: Gotwals & Dunn, 2009) and the Parenting Style Inventory-2 (PSI-2: Darling & Toyokawa, 1997). Factor analyses conducted on PSI-2 data resulted in a single factor that represented positive aspects of parenting and was labeled child-centered parenting (cf. Maccoby & Martin, 1983). Correlational results revealed significant and theoretically meaningful relationships between various perfectionism dimensions and child-centered parenting. Cluster analyses supported the existence of three groups of perfectionists: adaptive-, maladaptive-, and non-perfectionists. Significant between-cluster differences on perceptions of child-centered parenting were obtained (ps < .001), with maladaptive perfectionists perceiving their parents as being less child-centered than both adaptive- and non-perfectionists. Results are discussed surrounding the potential impact that parenting styles may have on the development of perfectionism in youth athletes.

The present meta-analytic study estimated the overall effectiveness of child therapy interventions using CCPT methodology and explored the relationships between study characteristics and treatment effects. Fifty-two studies between 1995 and the present were included based on the following criteria: (a) the use of CCPT methodology, (b) the use of control or comparison repeated measure design, (c) the use of standardized psychometric assessment, and (d) clear reports of effect sizes or sufficient information for effect size calculation. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) techniques were utilized to estimate the overall effect size for the collected studies and explore relationships between effect sizes and study characteristics. Dependent variable included 239 effect sizes, and independent variables included 22 study characteristics. The mean age of all child participants in the collected studies was 6.7. In 15 studies, the majority of participants were Caucasian. An equal number of studies were made up of non-Caucasian participants, including 3 with majority African American, 4 with majority Hispanic/Latino participants, 5 with majority Asian/Asian American participants, and 3 with other ethnic populations. Study collection included 33 studies with majority of boys and 11 studies with majority of girls. HLM analysis estimated a statistically significant overall effect size of 0.47 for the collected studies (p < 0.001). This result indicated that the overall improvement from pre to post treatment demonstrated by children in experimental groups was approximately 1/2 standard deviation better than by children in control groups. A statistically significant amount (49.2%) of between-study variance was found (p < 0.001), indicating the heterogeneity among the 52 studies Statistically significant relationships were found between effect sizes and study characteristics including child age, child ethnicity, clinical level of referral, treatment integrity, presenting issue, source of data, population, and caregiver involvement. Effect size findings for CCPT and its moderators should be interpreted in light of the specific, and perhaps more rigorous statistical analysis method (HLM) and effect size calculation formula used for the present study, particularly in comparison to previous meta-analytic findings. Overall findings support CCPT's beneficial treatment effect. Specifically, CCPT can be considered a developmentally and culturally responsive effective mental health intervention across presenting issues.

This single case study provides a detailed description of a 7-year-old sexually abused child's sandplay, describes prominent themes in the child's sandplay, and concurrent family transitions and events. Included are reflections and meanings that the therapist attributed to the sandplay. Child-centered play therapy was the guiding theory for the therapy. Thirty-six consecutive therapy sessions are examined in this study. The therapy sessions were divided into three phases that were tied to significant life events and changes in the sandplay content and process, along with the therapist-child interactions were explored in each of the phases. There were many significant changes in the content and process of the child's play. He went from primarily using nonliving miniatures to using primarily living miniatures in his sand worlds. Specifically, the use of people and animals increased in his third phase sandplays. The categories of miniatures the child used also increased from one predominant category in the first phase to four or more miniature categories in the third phase. The child's sandplay moved from primarily static play to increasingly dynamic play. Changes in the child's play are linked to changes in his living environment. / Master of Science

Child-centered play therapy (CCPT) is an empirically endorsed approach for children facing specific clinical concerns and life circumstances alike. The majority of research to date has accrued data about clients from secondary sources, such as adult report and observation. The purpose of this study was to explore children's perceptions of participating in CCPT by implementing a developmentally accessible interview medium, allowing children to share their experiences directly. Ten children between the ages of 4 and 7 who had completed at least eight sessions of CCPT were invited to create a drawing and respond to an interview protocol with their counselor. Data sources included the picture produced, a transcript of the interview between the child and counselor, and observation notes of the interview process. Using a phenomenological approach, three themes were identified to describe children's awareness and experience of the intervention: expressions of relationship, experiences in the playroom, and reluctance to engage in counselor-directed activity. The first two themes reflect children's report of the intervention and the third represents reactions to the research activity. Findings from this study support conclusions that children are aware of relationship between themselves and their counselor and recognize the uniquely unstructured features of play therapy and the playroom, which are defining components of CCPT.

The purpose of this study was to explore how the therapist-provided conditions of congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathic understanding were experienced and conveyed in child-centered play therapy (CCPT). Although the therapist-provided conditions are considered essential to the therapeutic process in CCPT, a gap exists between child-centered theory and empirical exploration of the process and dynamics of these relational variables in CCPT. Due to the limited research in this area, a grounded theory approach was utilized to explore how the three variables emerge in CCPT. Participants included four advanced doctoral students, all Caucasian females with extensive training in CCPT, and 12 children ranging from 4 to 8 years of age receiving weekly, individual CCPT. One individual CCPT session was observed and video-recorded for each therapist-child dyad (n = 12). Following each observation, play therapists were interviewed regarding the observed play session (n = 12). During each interview, the researcher and therapist watched the recorded play session in its entirety and discussed noteworthy interactions between the child and therapist. The video-recorded play therapy sessions and therapist interviews were analyzed using a multiphasic, constant comparative method. Results of the analysis included a process-model of the therapist-provided conditions in CCPT, examples of play therapists’ internal experiences and external behaviors associated with the presence and absence of the therapist-provided conditions, and a model of the process play therapists utilize to respond to breaks and barriers to congruence, unconditional positive regard, empathic understanding, and unconditional positive self-regard in CCPT. Implications for clinical practice, training, supervision, and research are discussed.

No / This paper explores different orientations to child-centered social work as conveyed in the training materials and guidelines of Looking After Children and Assessment Framework in Australia. Canada and Sweden. 'Child centered' is shaped by contextual factors and influences social work practices. We found differences in these approaches as needs based and/or rights based and in relation to how each emphasizes the three P's Provision, Protection and Participation. Substantial differences were identified both in how references to a child-centered approach appear in theoretical frameworks, values, motives and use of concepts in training materials and guidelines, and in the instructions given as to how to apply these approaches. It appears that Australia balances needs and rights, while Canada is more needs-oriented and Sweden more rights-oriented. Swedish materials show a more explicit emphasis on participation than Australian and Canadian materials. Differences between the three countries indicate the importance of structural, contextual factors shaping orientations to child-centered practice.

Child-centered play therapists are taught unique relationship building approaches and therapeutic methods to utilize when working with children. The purpose of this study was to determine if adult clients counseled by child-centered play therapists would demonstrate greater positive therapeutic outcomes than adult clients who were counseled by non-educated child-centered play therapists. This study also attempted to determine if the play therapists' clients would show greater, significant improvement in any particular areas of client distress (i.e., depression/anxiety, relationship issues), more so than the clients of the non-play therapists. Archival data from an assessment, The Adult Self-Report Inventory (ASR), was gathered to measure reported pre and post-test client symptomology. This study utilized a 2X2 repeated measure ANOVA design to analyze the impact of counselors who were educated in child-centered play therapy who saw adult clients, versus their non-play therapy counterparts who saw adult clients. Before treatment pre-test and after treatment post-test administration was collected for use in the analysis. The population consisted of 60 adult clients seeking counseling services at a major university in the southwest. All clients were seen by Master's practicum students for ten sessions. The clients were divided into two groups - 30 were seen by play therapists, 30 were seen by non-play therapists. Five scales on the ASR were measured using a 2x2 split-plot design and Eta squared. There were three independent variables: group, measurement occasion, and the interaction between group and measurement. The results of this study did not reveal any statistical significance. However, clinical significance was demonstrated as the play therapists' clients did report greater reductions in symptomology on all five scales, some more than others.