The problem with which this investigation was concerned was that of the use of parents as therapeutic agents. The purpose of this study was twofold. The first was to determine the effect of filial therapy on parental acceptance, self-esteem, parent-child relationship, and family environment. A second was to analyze the results and make recommendations concerning the effectiveness of filial therapy as a treatment modality for parents and their children.
The experimental design of the study was a nonrandomized, pretest-posttest, control group design.The sample (N=47) consisted of the experimental group (parents N=15, children N=9) who received filial therapy and the control group (parents N=12, children N=ll) who did not. The treatment included ten, two hour weekly parent training sessions. During these sessions the parents were taught the principles of client-centered play therapy and were instructed to conduct weekly one-half hour play sessions at home with their own children.
Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1) Filial therapy does significantly increase the parents' feeling of unconditional love for their children and 2) Filial therapy does significantly increase the parents' perception of expressed conflict in their family. In addition to the statistically significant results, there were some important trends which were mentioned as directional conclusions. These qualitative judgments include: 1) Filial therapy may be an effective treatment for increasing parents' acceptance of their children, especially parents' feelings of unconditional love; 2) Filial therapy may be a somewhat effective treatment for increasing self-esteem, yet more effective in increasing parents' self-esteem than children's self-esteem; 3) Filial therapy may be an effective treatment for increasing the closeness of the parent-child relationship without altering the authority hierarchy; 4) Filial therapy may influence the family environment, especially in the areas of expressiveness, conflict, independence, intellectual-cultural orientation, and control; and 5) Filial therapy may be an effective treatment for increasing parents' understanding of the meaning of their childrens' play.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc331345 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Glass, Nancy, 1949 |
| Contributors | Berg, Robert C., 1938-, Sininger, Rollin Albert, Landreth, Garry L., Thomas, L. Fred |
| Publisher | North Texas State University |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | x, 244 leaves, Text |
| Rights | Public, Glass, Nancy, 1949, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. |
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