THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CHILD-CENTERED PLAY THERAPY ON ANXIETY: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

The purpose of this systematic literature review was to examine the effectiveness of Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) on children's anxiety levels. Nine studies were identified across four databases (EBSCOhost, Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect), published in English between January 2000 and December 2022, and meeting the inclusion criteria. These studies explored the effectiveness of CCPT on children with a range of anxiety-related issues, including clinical anxiety problems, anxiety in earthquake victims, children benefiting from special education, children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), social anxiety symptoms, children who are homeless, and those exposed to adverse childhood experiences. The children included in the studies ranged in age from 3 to 12 years old. The findings indicate that CCPT is effective in addressing general anxiety, physiological symptoms of anxiety, agoraphobia, separation anxiety, anxiety related to physical injury, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety disorder in children. Furthermore, the results suggest that CCPT can be a viable approach for reducing anxiety in children. However, the risk of bias assessment of the studies included in this review was mostly uncertain. This highlights the need for further systematic literature reviews or meta-analyses that incorporate studies with an increased risk of bias in order to provide more robust conclusions.