The examination of the effectiveness of filial therapy on 3-10 years old children with developmental problems and their parents

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the Child-Parental Relationship Therapy training, a kind of Filial Therapy, is effected on children and their parents with developmental problems between the ages of 3 and 10 years. The study was conducted with the participation of volunteer families in Erzurum. Seven parents participated in the 10-week Child-Parental Relationship Therapy training. Filial Problem Checklist, Porter Parental Acceptance Scale and Measurament of Empathy in Adult-Child Interactions were administered as pre-test and post-test to the parents participating in the study. This study is quasi-experimental model with pretest-posttest experimental group. Training and special play sessions were carried out in the education and play room organized at Atatürk University Kazim Karabekir Education Faculty. The data were obtained from scales applied as pre-test and post-test to parents and from video recordings of the play sessions. 'Paired sample t test' was used to analyze the data. According to the results of the analysis, it is seen that Child-Parental Relationship Therapy training is effective in decreasing the problems of the children and increasing the levels of parental acceptance and empathy of the parents. Key Words: Filial Therapy, Child-Parental Relationship Therapy,developmental problems, parental acceptance, parental empathy