Helping Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: A Scoping Review and Narrative Synthesis of Rationale and Processes in Play Therapy Programs

Abstract

This scoping review was conducted to synthesize and analyze the rationale and processes involved in implementing play therapy programs to help children who have been exposed to domestic violence. Participants of reviewed play therapies were commonly living in shelters, had experienced child maltreatment and/or witnessed family violence, and exhibited psycho-social/behavioral problems. Key steps of play therapies include using reinforcement to provide an appropriate outlet for overwhelming emotions and/or problematic behaviors, identifying modifiable behaviors underlying cognitive distortions, cognitive restructuring/re-framing, behavioral correction, and learning coping and interpersonal skills. Parents’ education, children’s improvement, and the advantages/concerns of play therapy are also discussed.

Keywords:

• Children
• cognitive and behavioral techniques
• domestic violence
• play therapy

Authors’ contributions

YF, CKMC, LMYC and PPLO contributed in the study design and professional consultation. YF, LMYC and PPLO conducted the data collection and analysis and wrote manuscript. YF, LMYC, PPLO, FS, and CKMC reviewed manuscript critically. All authors significantly contributed to the intellectual content of the manuscript. This review was registered in PROSPERO (Ref No.: CRD42023431260).

Ethical approval

Since this review was conducted and analyzed based on published data, Internal Review Board (IRB) approval was not required.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author (Dr. Yuan FANG & Ms. Carmen Ka Man CHAN), upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

There is no funding involved in this work.