Feasibility of a group play intervention in early childhood
Pretend play interventions are a promising medium to improve children's play skills and related areas of development. As pretend play occurs frequently during early childhood, an intervention at this time point may be especially beneficial. The current study evaluated the feasibility of a group...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Creativity |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S271337452100008X |
| _version_ | 1818968427645108224 |
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| author | Karla K. Fehr Jessica D. Hoffmann Danielle E. Chambers Jennifer Ramasami |
| author_facet | Karla K. Fehr Jessica D. Hoffmann Danielle E. Chambers Jennifer Ramasami |
| author_sort | Karla K. Fehr |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Pretend play interventions are a promising medium to improve children's play skills and related areas of development. As pretend play occurs frequently during early childhood, an intervention at this time point may be especially beneficial. The current study evaluated the feasibility of a group-based play intervention to improve pretend play and emotional and behavioral functioning of 33 children (ages 4-8 years). In groups of 4-6 players, children received eight 20-30-minute sessions aimed at increasing imagination, organization, and affect expression in play. Pretend play skills at baseline were negatively related to parent-reported behavioral symptoms and externalizing problems and positively related to adaptive skills. After intervention, children's pretend play skills (imagination, organization, variety of affect) were significantly improved with medium to large effect sizes. Satisfaction with the intervention was high. This was the first evaluation of the group-based intervention in preschool-aged children. Implications of these promising results and future directions are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T14:04:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e964729936cb4d5ca3e681e6e45becd0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2713-3745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T14:04:31Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Creativity |
| spelling | doaj.art-e964729936cb4d5ca3e681e6e45becd02022-12-21T19:38:17ZengElsevierJournal of Creativity2713-37452021-12-0131100008Feasibility of a group play intervention in early childhoodKarla K. Fehr0Jessica D. Hoffmann1Danielle E. Chambers2Jennifer Ramasami3Southern Illinois University, United States; Corresponding author at: School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences, Southern Illinois University, Life Sciences II Mail Code 6502, 1125 Lincoln Drive, Carbondale, IL, 62901, United States.Yale University, United StatesSouthern Illinois University, United StatesSouthern Illinois University, United StatesPretend play interventions are a promising medium to improve children's play skills and related areas of development. As pretend play occurs frequently during early childhood, an intervention at this time point may be especially beneficial. The current study evaluated the feasibility of a group-based play intervention to improve pretend play and emotional and behavioral functioning of 33 children (ages 4-8 years). In groups of 4-6 players, children received eight 20-30-minute sessions aimed at increasing imagination, organization, and affect expression in play. Pretend play skills at baseline were negatively related to parent-reported behavioral symptoms and externalizing problems and positively related to adaptive skills. After intervention, children's pretend play skills (imagination, organization, variety of affect) were significantly improved with medium to large effect sizes. Satisfaction with the intervention was high. This was the first evaluation of the group-based intervention in preschool-aged children. Implications of these promising results and future directions are discussed.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S271337452100008XPretend playPlay interventionSocioemotional functioningPreschoolersEarly childhood development |
| spellingShingle | Karla K. Fehr Jessica D. Hoffmann Danielle E. Chambers Jennifer Ramasami Feasibility of a group play intervention in early childhood Journal of Creativity Pretend play Play intervention Socioemotional functioning Preschoolers Early childhood development |
| title | Feasibility of a group play intervention in early childhood |
| title_full | Feasibility of a group play intervention in early childhood |
| title_fullStr | Feasibility of a group play intervention in early childhood |
| title_full_unstemmed | Feasibility of a group play intervention in early childhood |
| title_short | Feasibility of a group play intervention in early childhood |
| title_sort | feasibility of a group play intervention in early childhood |
| topic | Pretend play Play intervention Socioemotional functioning Preschoolers Early childhood development |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S271337452100008X |
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