The transformational impact of playwork on the lives of disadvantaged

The Approach

Professor Brown’s focus includes:

1. Therapeutic work with neglected and abused children in Romania, to enable the recovery of their physical, social and mental wellbeing.
2. Developmental work with disadvantaged Roma children throughout Eastern Europe, to improve their general wellbeing and enhance their life chances.
3. Enhancing the training of children’s nurses, to enable them to address the holistic needs of hospitalised children, rather than only their medical needs.
4. Playing a pivotal role in the growth of the playwork profession.

This has been achieved through a number of projects:

• The first project concerned a therapeutic intervention with a group of abandoned children living in a Romanian paediatric hospital, which took place between 2000 and 2005. The children, ranging in age from one to ten years old, had suffered chronic neglect and abuse. They had previously spent most of their lives tied in the same cot in the same hospital ward. Although able to see and hear the other abused children, they experienced little social interaction. The project used play-based therapeutic methods to aid the children’s recovery and development, for example, joining, symbolic representation, negative capability and highlighting the significance of play cues. Despite the success of these focused techniques, the most powerful healing factor was the unfettered playful interaction between the children themselves.
• The second project investigated the special circumstances of Roma children’s early years education and support needs, with particular reference to the high level of exclusion experienced by members of the communities in Central and Eastern Europe. It explored the impact on households of the social determinants of health which potentially affect child development and wellbeing. A number of case studies were used to illustrate how agencies in various countries have developed strategies to encourage Roma children to engage with education opportunities. The project concluded that there is a mismatch between the ambitions of government agencies and the reality of life on the ground.
• The third project hypothesised that children’s nurses are not well trained in the art of playing with children in their care. The mixed methods approach combined longitudinal focus groups with student nurses and content analysis of the programme specifications of university children’s nursing courses in the UK. Only 17% of programme specifications cited play. Where play was mentioned it largely referred to it as a health procedure, such as preparing children for operations or distracting them from injections, etc. There was little mention of the multifaceted developmental benefits of children’s play, nor of its widely acknowledged therapeutic healing properties. The feedback from the students confirmed the low priority given to the subject of children’s play within children’s nurse education.
• Finally, a onograph explored the tensions that exist between play and playwork, including appropriate definitions and the conflict around the role of the adult. It proposed a play-to-playwork continuum, where playing can be considered a ‘developmental and evolutionary’ activity, and playwork a ‘compensatory’ activity. It was structured around aspects considered by the author as most important for playwork, and used stories of children playing to illuminate a range of play and playwork theories. The stories, drawn from the casebooks of eminent and experienced playworkers, largely spoke for themselves whilst at the same time triggering theoretical explorations.

The Impact

Brown’s research has played a central role in the development of both the theory and practice of the profession of playwork. The research in this period has impacted on the training of hundreds of playwork professionals. This research has shaped pedagogy, training and practice.

• The pedagogical focus on children and play has led to development of undergraduate playwork courses, and postgraduate play therapy courses at Leeds Beckett University.
• The research in this period has provided the best practice that has helped develop the Child Mental Health Charter. This was co-published in 2019 by Play Therapists UK and the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for a Fit and Healthy Childhood, with Brown’s crucial support. It allows individuals and organisations to sign up to a programme of commitments that improve children’s mental health. It has 1,000 individual signatories and over 100 organisations.
• Brown provided a Case Study on Therapeutic Playwork with Abandoned and Abused Children in a Romanian Paediatric Hospital in Report 17: Wellbeing and Nurture: Physical and Emotional Security in Childhood. This was published by the APPG on a Fit and Healthy Childhood and is evidence that the research has had an impact on policy.
• All the research influenced Brown’s involvement with the policy work of the APPG on three reports: Mental Health in Childhood, The Impact of Social and Economic Inequalities on Children’s Health, and Children’s Mental Health Beyond the Green Paper: The Role of Practice-Based Evidence. His research was used by the UK Government as a standard text in connection with their National Play Strategy.
• The Aid for Romanian Children (ARC) charitable trust was established as a direct response to the outcomes of Brown’s research. It has provided food, clothing, shelter, medicines and Christmas boxes for the children. Life for these children is a constant struggle. ARC has also organised summer camps. While working with the children, Brown also conducted a research project studying their play behaviours, asking the specific question, “Are these children play deprived?” This observational study highlighted the striking contrast between the children’s absolute generational poverty and the general enthusiasm with which they played. Professor Brown concluded that the usual niceties of privacy, personal possessions and property boundaries were apparently irrelevant. The children’s play was rich in imagination and creativity – living proof of Nicholson’s Theory of Loose Parts.
• A keynote presentation on this work of Brown at the ARC was seen by the CEO of the playground equipment manufacturer, Sutcliffe Play, who was concerned that children in the UK were becoming ‘play deprived’. In particular, he was concerned about the barren nature of school playgrounds. His company attempted to address this via a new product line, based on the ‘loose parts’ theme. This has now been sold around the world to create an economic impact as well as one on the wellbeing of children.