A Play Therapy Model Focusing on Parent Training: Child-Parent Relationship Therapy

Child-Parent Relationship Therapy is an approach that combines play therapy and family therapy. It is based on the idea of teaching parents the skills of structuring, emphatic listening, imaginary play and limit-setting and enabling their children to become play therapists. The overall aim is to strengthen the child-parent relationship. It is a structured, 10-week, group format training for parents with children aged 3-10. After 3 week-parent training, special play sessions with their children for 7 weeks begin in parallel with the training sessions. These sessions teach parents to recognize their children's emotions, listen effectively, build self-esteem, and set boundaries therapeutically, while helping parents develop parenting skills. In this review, the history of Child-Parent Relationship Therapy, its aims, parent-child interaction and training dimensions, playroom and toy selection, content of training sessions and research studies on its effectiveness are explained. Evaluating the model, it was seen that CPRT was an effective approach in reducing parental stress and behavioral problems of children, and improving parental acceptance and empathy levels.