A Meta-Analysis of Research on the Effects of Play Therapy on Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor Development

This meta-analytic study aimed to determine the overall effect of play therapy on children's developmental outcomes across cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains, and to examine the moderating roles of targeted developmental domain, participant age group, intervention setting, publication year, and study design. A systematic literature search was conducted in Scopus and Web of Science databases covering the period from January 2010 through December 2024. Following a PRISMA-guided screening process, 43 independent studies (total N = 2,614) met all inclusion criteria. Effect sizes were expressed as Hedges' g and pooled under a random-effects model using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software. Heterogeneity was assessed via the Q-statistic and I-2 index, and five a priori moderator variables were examined using the Q-between statistic. Publication bias was evaluated through funnel plot inspection and the trim-and-fill procedure. The overall pooled effect size was large-to-very-large (g = 1.12, 95% CI [.94, 1.31], p < .001), with substantial heterogeneity (I-2 = 87.9%). Moderator analyses revealed that developmental domain, age group, publication year, and study design significantly moderated effect sizes, whereas intervention setting did not. Affective outcomes, early childhood participants, and quasi-experimental designs yielded the largest effects. Publication bias assessments indicated no meaningful distortion of findings. Play therapy produces substantial positive effects on children's developmental outcomes, with effectiveness varying meaningfully as a function of several study-level characteristics.