Play therapy in preschool: Promoting teacher empathy and strengthening child-teacher bonds

A quasi-experimental design was used to examine a play therapy intervention (CTRT: Child Teacher Relationship Training) aimed to improve children's behavior, the quality of teacher-child relationships, and teacher's empathy. Participants included 18 teachers and 175 preschool children. Classrooms were assigned to CTRT, time-control, or business-as-usual conditions. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed a main effect of intervention condition for teacher empathy but not for child behavior and teacher-child relationship quality. CTRT teachers demonstrated improvements in empathic interactions. Follow-up analyses revealed that the effects of children's initial levels of behavior problems on post-intervention outcomes were moderated by intervention condition. Participation in the CTRT condition buffered the deleterious effects of initial behavior problems on later teacher-child relationship quality. Researchers concluded that this study provides preliminary evidence that CTRT may be effective in building teacher empathy and teacher-child closeness.