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Child Attachment &
Play Assessment

Publications

The CAPA has four peer-reviewed publications and half a dozen empirical studies either under review or nearing completion. Published studies demonstrate: convergent validity with an observational procedure for pre-schoolers (CARE-Index) and an attachment interview for school age children (Farnfield 2015); construct validity regarding attachment insecurity and known risks in the environment such as parent mental health (Farnfield  & Onions, 2022); the CAPA distinguishes between endangered (largely children in foster care) and safe community children (Farnfield 2015), community endangered children from severely maltreated children in residential care (Farnfield & Onions, 2022); a significant association with DSM5 clinical diagnoses of anxiety disorder and of depression (Farnfield  & Onions, 2022), correlation between child attachment and risk of, or history of, maltreating animals (Wauthier et al in press). Stability of attachment using the CAPA over a two-year period with a group of highly traumatised institutional children was 70% which compares favourably with other studies (Farnfield, unpublished 2020).

Future publications are expected to demonstrate:

  • correspondence between unresolved trauma on the CAPA and validated trauma scales (Zhang et al, submitted)
  • correspondence of CAPA constructions in case studies with (a) predicted biophysical data (heart rate variability, cortisol) (Hadiprodjo, unpublished, 2018; Zhang in preparation) and (b) cortisol & alpha amylase (Zhang in preparation).

Farnfield, S. (2015). The child attachment and play assessment (CAPA): a new approach to coding narrative stems with children aged 3 to 11 years. International Journal of Play Therapy. 25, 217-229.

Farnfield, S. & Onions, C. (2022): The role of affect regulation in developmental trauma: an empirical study of children in residential care, Journal of Child Psychotherapy, DOI: 10.1080/0075417X.2021.2015421

Farnfield, S. (unpublished, 2020) Report for the Mulberry Bush School: attachment, trauma and play. University of Roehampton/ Mulberry Bush School.

Hadiprodjo, N. (unpublished, 2018) Heartfelt Play: An exploratory case-based analysis of cardiac activity within play therapy dyads and children’s play narratives. PhD Dissertation, University of Roehampton.

Onions, C. (unpublished, 2020) From research to practice at a residential school: The Mulberry Bush. British Educational Research Association Conference.

Wauthier, L. M., Farnfield, S., Scottish SPCA, & Williams, J. M. (2023). A preliminary exploration of the psychological risk factors for childhood animal cruelty: The roles of attachment, self-regulation, and empathy. Anthrozoös, 36(3), 447-469.

Wauthier, L. M., Farnfield, S., & Williams, J. M. (2022). The role of attachment in children’s relationships with pets: From pet care to animal harm. Human-Animal Interactions.

Farnfield, S. (in press) Rethinking developmental trauma using the Child Attachment and Play Assessment, Invited submission special edition, Attachment theory, advances and contributions to psycotherapy. Revista de Psicoterapia

Zhang, F. & Farnfield, S.  (in preparation) Comparing diagnoses of child PTSD with the assessment of developmental trauma.

Zhang, F., Farnfield, S., Gibson, Leigh E., Grey, B., (submitted).Comparing diagnosis of child PTSD with a doll play assessment of developmental trauma: Exploring child PTSD with the CAPA  Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry

Zhang, F. (in preparation) The bio-physiology of developmental trauma: cortisol and alpha amylase.