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Children with antisocial, aggressive and disruptive behaviours pose considerable concern to families, educators and the wider community. A major barrier to implementing effective interventions is treatment non-attendance and attrition. The dissertation examines treatment participation among children with conduct problems, and their families, referred to child and youth mental health services. First, a model of treatment engagement was proposed that included Structural strategies (clinic service operations, such as service accessibility) and Therapy Process strategies (aspects of the interaction between the clinician and the family of the referred child). Consistent with the model of engagement, parent-report and clinician-report measures were developed and evaluated in the local Queensland Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. The next study explored and manipulated Structural aspects in a randomised control trial evaluating the impact of telephone reminder calls. Families of children with conduct problems, in comparison to children without conduct problems, were more likely to miss appointments and to drop out of treatment. The low rate of treatment attendance for conduct problem children was diminished among those assigned to the telephone reminder condition. In the final study, the impact of a clinician training program covering the proposed engagement model was evaluated. Utilising a multiple-staggered baseline design, the training impact on clinician behaviour (n = 30) and client outcomes (n = 221) was evaluated across three mental health services. The training program was associated with a significant increase in clinicians' appraisal and use of the engagement strategies based on clinician report and chart audit measures, but not on the parent report measure. In comparison to clients referred during a baseline period, clients referred after the clinician training program had significantly higher rates of treatment attendance and lower attrition. Greater improvement in mental health functioning was found for clients referred after the training intervention on the clinician rated measure, but not for the parent report of child psychopathology. The study was limited by the use of previously un-validated engagement measures, lack of follow-up for outcome measures, and non-random allocation to conditions. The staggering of interventions across clinics and the comparability of client groups, however, minimised potential confounding explanations. Overall the results show that targeting Structural and Therapy Process aspects can enhance engagement, reduce drop-out, and improve selected outcomes in the treatment of child conduct problems.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2006. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-173). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Research indicates that parental sources of knowledge (i.e., child disclosure, parental solicitation, and parental control) play a role in the occurrence of antisocial and other problem behaviors in childhood and adolescence. Because sources of knowledge have not been examined regarding the extent to which they are specifically related to change in disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) symptoms and no research has examined the influence of child symptom clusters of DBD on parental sources of knowledge, the current study longitudinally examined reciprocal relations between child disclosure, parental solicitation, and the DBD symptom clusters of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Conduct Disorder (CD), and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). Participants were 89 children (56% males) recruited from a mid-sized southeastern community with ages ranging from 9-12 years (M = 10.4 years, SD = 1.1 years) at baseline. Results indicated that disclosure was negatively associated with both ODD and CD symptoms and solicitation was positively predictive of CD symptoms within time. However, associations were not maintained across time. Furthermore, disclosure and solicitation were unrelated to ADHD symptoms at baseline and across time. In turn, ODD symptoms were negatively related to child disclosure within as well as across time; however this association was only marginally statistically significant within time. ADHD and CD symptoms were unrelated to disclosure at both time points. Finally, only ODD symptoms were marginally statistically negatively related to parental solicitation within time, but no symptom clusters were associated with solicitation across time. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Florida, 2003. / Title from title page of source document. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 160-171).

Mutual antipathies are rare among preschoolers and are common among older school age children, but little is known about the prevalence of mutual antipathies among younger school age children. One goal of this study was to examine the prevalence of mutual antipathies among first graders to determine if they are common among younger children. A second goal of the study was to examine the impact of friendship and mutual antipathies on children’s social behavior and social cognition. A sample of first, third, and fifth graders (N = 512) first completed rating and nomination sociometric assessments to assess participation in friendships and mutual antipathies. On a different day, children viewed video-taped ambiguous provocation stimuli in which provocateur’s emotions were systematically manipulated (happy, angry, and sad). They then rated six different social goals and gave problem-solving responses. Mutual antipathies were found to be common among first through fifth graders, with 42 to 66 percent of children participating in antipathy dyads. Children’s participation in friendship and mutual antipathy relationships had effects on both peer-nominated social behaviors and social cognition, even when statistically controlling for the effect of peer rejection.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-126).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-168). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.