Child-Centered Play Therapy and Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Single-Case Research Design

ABSTRACT

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been shown to have long-term negative health impacts for adults and an increase in maladaptive behaviors in children exposed to ACEs. There are limited studies that explore effective interventions to support children exposed to ACEs. Child-centered play therapy (CCPT) could be an appropriate intervention to assist children exposed to ACEs but needs more research. This study utilized an A-B-A single case research design with five participants. Participants completed 16 30-min CCPT sessions through the course of the study. Participants showed a decrease in externalized behaviors throughout the study that carried over after the intervention stopped. This study provides evidence that CCPT could be an effective intervention for counselors to utilize with children exposed to ACEs.

KEYWORDS:

• Adverse childhood experiences
• trauma
• play therapy
• child-centered play therapy
• externalized behaviors

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Arkansas