Psychodynamic assessment of children’s play: reliability and validity of a new measure

This paper introduces a new psychodynamic instrument for assessing children’s play capacity, intended for both research and clinical practice. Developed and tested over a two-year period with psychodynamic experts, the instrument captures children’s play capacity through play observations using nine items. To examine the validity and reliability of the instrument, a study was conducted with 107 children aged four to ten years. The results demonstrate that the Psychodynamic Assessment of Children’s Play (PoES) is a reliable and valid observational tool for assessing children’s play capacity. Specifically, the study confirmed a one-factor structure, high internal consistency, and strong inter-rater reliability. Furthermore, analyses provide evidence for criterion-related and construct validity: higher play capacities correlate with significantly fewer mental health problems, which underscores the importance of play for child development. The tool is particularly relevant for enhancing diagnostic processes in clinical practice, as well as for researching play development within psychotherapeutic contexts and the application of play-based treatments.