Research projects

Effects of Cognitive Behavioral Play Intervention (CBPI) on Quality of Life in Children with Early-Onset Epilepsy

Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy (CBPT) is an intervention that adapts empirically supported CBT techniques to a play-based environment with preschool and school-aged children, directly involving the child in the therapeutic process. Hospitalization and other healthcare experiences can be difficult for children, both physically and psychologically. Various studies have highlighted the significant therapeutic value of play for sick children and the effectiveness of play interventions in reducing stress and anxiety in hospitalized children.

Our study aims to implement CBPT in a hospital setting, drawing inspiration from the model theorized by Knell (1993, 1998) and structuring the play intervention as experimented by Pearson (2008). Specifically, this study focuses on a sample of children with early-onset epilepsy and aims to promote an improvement in quality of life through a cognitive-behavioral play intervention designed to stimulate positive thinking and improve problem-solving and coping skills, which are essential for children's psycho-emotional development.

Effects of Cognitive Behavioral Play Intervention (CBPI) on Academic Self-Efficacy and Self-Esteem in Children with Specific Learning Disorders

This study is grounded in the hypothesis that CBPT can be implemented in a clinical setting, drawing on the model theorized by Knell (1993, 1998) and Geraci (2022, 2024) and structuring the play intervention as experimented by Pearson (2008). Pearson's study (2008) provides empirical support for the effectiveness of applying cognitive-behavioral play therapy within an intervention that does not involve psychotherapy. Through this intervention, children can be indirectly taught to consciously use their thoughts to mediate events when facing a problem — learning to use hopeful thinking statements that enhance their sense of agency and a problem-solving method to generate pathways toward their goals.

Within the Cognitive Behavioral Play Intervention, specific games and dolls are used for target problems; modeling and praise are used to teach hopeful thinking skills; and children are taught to use self-instructions and practice positive self-affirmations during play sessions. We hypothesize that children with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD), by accessing structured play sessions according to the CBPT model, can acquire the tools for better management of academic self-efficacy and self-esteem issues related to their condition.

Specifically, this study focuses on a sample of children diagnosed with SLD, with the primary objective of promoting improved academic self-efficacy and self-esteem through a cognitive-behavioral play intervention. A secondary objective is to stimulate positive thinking and improve problem-solving and coping skills, which are essential for children's psycho-emotional development.

The effects of the pandemic on play and cognitive-behavioral aspects in a sample of 3–6 year-old children

In the spring of 2021, the CBPT Research Center, in collaboration with several preschools in central Rome, launched an online survey titled "The cognitive-behavioral and playful effects of the pandemic on children." This survey involved the creation and online administration of a questionnaire consisting of a general part, where teachers were asked about the changes they observed in their classroom following the lockdown, and a specific part, where each teacher answered questions directed at each of their students aged 3 to 6 years.

The questionnaire was designed with reference to the four main areas of development: play, neuropsychological, emotional competence, and behavioral. Of particular interest were the results regarding changes observed in the area of play: a substantial share of children showed a change in their way of playing after the pandemic, leading to a redefinition of their expressed preferences. The data revealed how the pandemic has had repercussions on the lives and development of the youngest, forcing them to reorganize their areas of functioning and, in particular, their way of expressing themselves through play.