An Ethnographic Study of an Adlerian Play Therapy Training Program

This study utilized ethnomethodology to provide a description of the process and the effect of training counselors to incorporate the concepts and techniques of Individual Psychology into play therapy. Transcripts of the training program and of three individual interviews with the nine counselors who participated in the training were made. These transcripts and the journals in which the subjects were asked to chronicle their personal experiences and reactions to the training were qualitatively analyzed. This analysis indicated that most of the subjects reported that their attitudes toward play therapy, toward themselves as play therapists, and toward their play therapy clients had changed after their participation in the Adlerian play therapy training. The majority of subjects also reported that they perceived that their behavior in their play therapy sessions had changed, frequently in the direction of including more creative and active techniques. Qualitative analysis of the transcripts made from videotaped play therapy sessions by the researcher and an outside evaluator indicated that, while some of the counselors' behaviors seemed to have changed after the training, many of the counselors' behaviors did not appear to have been affected by their participation in the training. Possible explanations of the discrepancy between the counselors' perceptions of their behavior and the researcher's and outside evaluator's perceptions of the counselors' behaviors were discussed. Other areas considered as worthy of in-depth examination were: (a) possible influences on the changes in the counselors' attitudes toward play therapy, toward themselves as play therapists, and toward their play therapy clients; (b) several factors involved in training counselor education students; (c) elements which may have affected the counselors' receptivity to learning a new method of conducting play therapy; (d) implications for the future adaptation of the Adlerian play therapy training program; and (f) potential avenues for future research