Department

Counseling and Human Services

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Date of Award

2025

Format

pdf

Degree Level

Phd

LCSH subject

Family counseling; Counselors -- Training of; Play therapy

Medium

Manuscript

Proquest Document ID

32279850

Identifier

1599111686 (OCLC)

School/University

St. Mary's University (San Antonio, Tex.)

Size or duration

247 pages

Document Type

Dissertation

First Advisor

Reyna-Vasquez, Priscilla

Second Advisor

Morris, Crystal

Third Advisor

Hartwig, Elizabeth Kjellstrand

Abstract

Children are an important part of families, yet family counselor education programs often do not incorporate training for including children in family counseling. At some point in their careers, family counselors and therapists will encounter clients who have children 3–12 years old. The problem is that since these professionals often receive little to no training in play therapy and thus do not typically include young children in family therapy, these younger family members are often overlooked. Research has confirmed that, due to a lack of sufficient training and supervision in play therapy, many family therapists report feeling unprepared to work with children. A solution to the lack of play therapy training for family therapists is to provide quality training and supervision for family therapists to increase their comfort and confidence in play therapy. The purpose of this study was to determine any relationships between play therapy training and attitudes, knowledge, and skills in play therapy for family counselors, as well as any relationship between family counselors’ play therapy attitudes, knowledge, and skills and their perceived preparedness by their graduate program to include children in family counseling. This study examined these issues using a quantitative survey, the Play Therapy Attitudes, Knowledge, and Skills Survey–Revised, to reveal the relationships between play therapy training in graduate school and the extent of that training reported by family counselors with their attitudes, knowledge, and skills in using play therapy. Evaluating information from 114 study participants, one of the three hypotheses was supported with statistical significance. Simple linear regressions revealed that increased number of hours of graduate school training in play therapy predicted higher total scores on the Play Therapy Attitudes, Knowledge, and Skills Survey–Revised as well as each of the subscale scores of attitudes, knowledge, and skills. These findings have the potential to impact the fields of family therapy and play therapy, the education and supervision of family therapists, and children and families involved in family therapy.

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