This study developed a group theraplay program for enhancing intimacy in infant-teacher
relationships and infant’s adaptation to child care centers. And it also examined the effects of a
theraplay program. The participants were 16 infants between the ages of 2-3. Each group of 8
infants was attached to the experimental or the control group. The experimental group had 45 minute
group theraplay sessions two times per week for a total of 10 while the control group did not have
any treatment. The Child-Teacher Relationship Scale(Pianta, 2001) and the Preschool Adjustment
Questionnaire(Jewsuwan, Luster & Kostelnik, 1993) were used for pre-test and follow-up tests.
Mann-Whitney U Test and Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Signed-Ranks Test analyzed data via SPSS
ver. 20.0. The results were that: ⑴ In the pre-test, the degree of intimacy in the infant-teacher
relationship had no difference between the experimental and control group. However, in follow-up
test, the degree of intimacy in the infant-teacher relationship of the experimental group was
enhanced. ⑵ In the pre-test, the degree of adaptation to child care centers had no difference between
the experimental and control group. But in the follow-up test, the degree of adaptation to child care
centers of the experimental group was changed optimistically. Therefore, it can be concluded that
group theraplay program is an effective means to facilitate intimacy in infant-teacher relationships
and adaptation to child care centers.