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Abstract

Previous studies revealed that an alarming number of family therapists exclude children from family therapy, largely because they lacked comfort with children and perceived that their training, especially in play therapy, was inadequate. Implementing findings from one earlier study, a child-focused course was designed to address these issues. This current study examined students’ perceptions of the efficacy of this course in developing their knowledge and skills to treat children individually and in family sessions. Following institutional review board approval, 43 out of the 44 students enrolled in the child course over five semesters agreed to participate. A qualitative content analysis was utilized to explore participants’ written responses to open-ended questions on a questionnaire administered in the last class. Four overall themes emerged from the data: (1) training, (2) skills, (3) impact of training, and (4) knowledge. Frequency counts revealed the three subthemes/topics with the most comments: (1) the benefits of hands-on training, (2) students plan to continue child-focused training, and (3) general comments about the training in play interventions. Many reported increased comfort with children, and that they were more likely to work with children. Students’ comments reflect a significant increase in their perceived ability to work effectively with children and families. The findings indicate that many students experienced personal growth and significant development of their child-related knowledge, skills, and use of play therapy techniques. Included are a description of the course, recommendations, and limitations of the study.

Keywords

training children play therapy family therapy family play therapy child exclusion content analysis child therapy

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Training Graduate Students to Work With Children and Families

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Keywords

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