The Effectiveness of Play Therapy based on Child-Parent Relationships and Cognitive-Behavioral Art-Play Therapy on Mother’s Affective Capital of Single Parents’ Children

Mothers of single-parent children need a lot of help and assistance because they are alone in playing parenting roles. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of play therapy based on child-parent relationships and cognitive-behavioral art-play therapy on single-parent mothers’ affective capital and their components.

The research method was quasi-experimental with three groups in two stages of pre-test and post-test. The statistical population of the study included single-parent mothers and their 6 to 12 years children. From the statistical population, 54 people were selected through purposive sampling and then randomly assigned to two experimental groups and a control group (each with 18 children). Golparvar affective capital questionnaire was used to measure the dependent variable. Play therapy based on child-parent relationships and cognitive-behavioral art-play therapy groups were treated in 10 sessions (90 to 120 minutes in each session) respectively. Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance and Bonferroni post hoc test.

The results showed that in affective capital, there was a significant difference between cognitive-behavioral art-play therapy with play therapy based on child-parent relationships (p<0.05) and the control group (p<0.01), and between play therapy based on child-parent relationships with the control group (p<0.01). In positive affect, there was a significant difference between cognitive-behavioral art-play therapy and play therapy based on child-parent relationships with the control group (p<0.01). Also, results revealed that there was significant difference between the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral art-play therapy and control group on feeling of energy and between cognitive-behavioral art-play therapy with play therapy based on quality of child-parent relationships and control group on mothers’ happiness (p<0.01).

Considering the effect of cognitive-behavioral art-play therapy and play-therapy based on parent-child relationships on increasing of single-parent mothers’ affective capital, the use of these therapies in treatment centers for single-parent mothers and their children can be considered.