مروری بر تحقیقات ده ساله بازی درمانی در تایوان

This study represented a 10-year review of 86 master's theses and doctoral dissertations on play therapy that had been conducted in Taiwan from 2002 to 2011. Particular attention was directed to the intention of research, the traits of participants, the characteristics of play therapy, and the research methods. Results indicated that the most frequently studied population was children and adolescents (54.6%), followed by play therapists (25.6%), parents/care-givers of children (16.3%), and teachers of children (1.2%). Findings revealed the types of research were qualitative (n = 59; 68.6%), quantitative (n = 7; 8.1%), and mixed methods (n = 20; 23.3%). Results are discussed concerning implications for counselor educators and further research on play therapy.

Play is the primary and natural medium of communication for children (Axline, 1947, Erikson, 2000, Landreth, 2002, Piaget, 1962, Russ, 2004 and Vygotsky, 1967). Play also has been recognized by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights as a right of every child. The committee advocates that engaging in play appropriate to the child's age is key to enabling every child to fully develop his/her personality, talents, and mental and physical abilities to his/her fullest potential (United Nations Human Rights, 2006). The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) not only recognized the need to play for children across age groups, but also affirmed the significant role of play in children's development (Isenberg & Quisenberry, 2002). Scholars have addressed the important relationship between play and child development. Ginsberg (2007) concluded that play is vital to child development and contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children. The author also pointed out that play is an advantageous chance for parents to fully engage with their children. Gmitrova and Gmitrov (2004) found that child-directed pretend play was positively and significantly associated with their cognitive and affective behavior. Through symbolic play, children freely assimilate their experiences without environmental constraints and their feelings of self-worth and self-acceptance increase (Landreth, 2002 and Wilson and Ryan, 2005). In order to provide more professional and developmentally appropriate services for children and youth, all interventions for mental health in children and adolescents should follow four principles: specificity, age and developmentally appropriate approach, variability and practicability, and evaluation and assessment of effectiveness (Remschmidt & Belfer, 2005). Because children have not developed the capacities to verbally communicate as effectively as adults, play naturally provides children the ways to express their experiences and feelings, to establish relationships with others and play therapists, to represent their needs and desires, and to better understand themselves (Landreth, 2002). Play therapy has shown to be an effective intervention for children's emotional and behavioral concerns (Bratton and Ray, 2000, Bratton et al., 2005 and LeBlanc and Ritchie, 2001). Additionally, child–parent relationship therapy has provided a way for parents to cope more successfully (Guerney, 2000, Landreth and Bratton, 2006 and VanFleet, 2000). In recent years, the field of play therapy has developed and expanded internationally, with trained professionals using play therapy as a primary intervention for children and adolescents. According to play therapy organizations such as the Association for Play Therapy (APT), the Association for Taiwan Play Therapy (ATPT), the Canadian Association for Child and Play Therapy (CACPT), Play Therapy International (PTI), the British Association of Play Therapists (BAPT), and Australasia Pacific Play Therapy Association (APPTA), their members are from a variety of professional backgrounds such as counselor, social worker, psychologist, psychiatrist, family therapist, or expressive art therapist. In Taiwan, play therapy is still at a prime stage of development. The law governing licensure of professional counselors in Taiwan was enacted in 2001. The Association for Taiwan Play Therapy (ATPT) was established in December 2005. ATPT's missions include (a) providing training, education, and supervision of play therapy, (b) increasing public understanding and appreciation of play and play therapy, (c) publishing evidence-based research and practical studies, and (d) promotion of international exchanges and cooperation (ATPT, 2006). As indicated in the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Program Standards (CACREP, 2009), counseling programs provide training and supervision in diverse core areas. Counselor educators are challenged to provide models of counseling that are consistent with current professional research and practice in order to assist counselors-in-training in developing a personal model of counseling. Furthermore, CACREP addresses the importance of research in advancing the counseling profession, the value of research and statistical methods used in conducting research, and the use of study to inform evidence-based practice, and so on. Conducting a master's thesis or doctoral dissertation facilitates the integration of research opportunities and clinical experiences to faculty members and counselors-in-training (CACREP). Urquiza (2010) indicated that training young practitioners and graduate students in the process of conducting intervention research is a way to increase the credibility of play therapy research. In addition, enhancing the body of theory, knowledge, and skills of play therapy would assist graduate-level counselor students to develop a personal model of counseling for children and adolescents. By reviewing existing theses and dissertations, we can gain understanding about the current trends in research on play therapy in counseling programs. However, such investigations of play therapy research in Taiwan are rarely found in the literature. The purpose of the present study was to review master's theses and doctoral dissertations on play therapy in Taiwan from 2002 to 2011 to provide a detailed description and understanding of the research focus in the field of play therapy. Six main questions were of concern in the present study. They included (a) How many theses and dissertations on play therapy had been completed? (b) What were the intentions of the research? (c) What were the characteristics of the research population? (d) What were the characteristics of play therapy? (e) What were the primary research methods? and (f) What type of instruments, if any, did research utilize?

This study represented a 10-year review of 86 master's theses and doctoral dissertations on play therapy that had been conducted in Taiwan from 2002 to 2011. Results indicated that the most frequent population to be studied was children and adolescents (54.6%), followed by play therapists (25.6%), parents/care-givers of children (16.3%), and teachers of children (1.2%). Findings also demonstrated that the types of research were qualitative (n = 59; 68.6%), quantitative (n = 7; 8.1%), and mixed methods (n = 20; 23.3%). The primary contribution of this study is the complete exploration of participant characteristics and play therapy intervention for children and adolescents over the past decade. Because play therapy has become more widely recognized as a developmentally appropriate and clinically-proven treatment for children, an enhanced body of theory, knowledge, skills of play therapy as well as research methods of graduate students will continue to advance the play therapy field in Taiwan.