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

Introduction: 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. Methods: 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. Results: 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). Conclusions: 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.