Application and Effectiveness of Play Therapy Using an Online-Game Intervention for Hidden Youth

Based on the view that hidden youth suffer from disempowerment in society due to their inability to meet mainstream expectations, this study explores an alternative intervention approach for hidden youth by using an online gaming platform to provide Play Therapy. This empowered them and coincides with their culture and interests. The evaluative study of the effectiveness of the intervention involved 502 hidden youth in Hong Kong aged twelve to twenty-one years, of whom more than 70 per cent spent at least ten hours online per day. Correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were conducted to measure the effectiveness of Play Therapy in terms of the empowerment effect, as well as participants’ sense of well-being and coping abilities (psychological capital). Results showed that the three variables were significantly related. Also, while Play Therapy significantly predicted psychological capital in the Level 2 regression model, this relationship was replaced by empowerment in the Level 3 model. This suggests that empowerment is an essential element in Play Therapy for enhancing psychological capital. The implication for social work practice is, rather than re-integrating youth into disempowering mainstream society, practitioners can advocate empowering, localised intervention which unfolds youth’s subjugated strengths and nurtures their self-preferred development to fulfil their developmental needs.