The purpose of the present study was to determine if perceptions of improved family functioning following a behavioral parenting program could be predicted by educational background, income, and pretest knowledge of behavioral principles. Subjects for the study were parents of elementary-school-aged children who volunteered for the parenting classes. Parents who perceived their families as dysfunctional, as measured by the pretest FACES II, were selected as subjects for the study. Parents whose perceptions of their families improved after the parenting class were then compared with parents who did not perceive improvement in their families on the predictor variables. The results demonstrated that parents whose perceptions of their families improved were not significantly differentiated by income, education, or their knowledge of behavioral principles. These variables were not found to be as predictors to determine which parents would be positively impacted by the parenting program. The majority of parents did increase their knowledge of behavioral principles from pretest to posttest; however, this was not related to improvement in perceptions of family functioning. Further research is recommended to ascertain what characteristics of parents predict change following parent training.

The effectiveness of two types of parent training were evaluated and compared with a control group that received training. A child Management Inventory was constructed for this purpose. Parent Effectiveness Training was significantly superior to a training program developed by the Utah State Department of Education as measured by pre- and post-test criterion measure. There were no significant differences between the Utah State Department of Education group and the control group. This was determined by applying an analysis of covariance to the pre- and post-test data from all three groups. However, on a follow-up critical incidents test the Utah State Department of Education group showed more persistance of the desired behaviors than the Parent Effectiveness Training group or the control group three months after the completion of the initial study. No clear-cut conclusions were made as to the effectiveness of one program over the other based on the data. Both programs, however, showed changed over the control group. Further research in the area of the effectiveness of parent training groups was recommended.

Many preschool children exhibit a number of problematic, acting-out behaviors. Parents of preschoolers exhibiting behavior problems often experience a great deal of stress associated with these problem behaviors. Consistently robust improvements have been found in the use of stress management for adult stress, pain, and medical wellbeing. Likewise, studies have shown parent training decreases the severity of child behavior problems. However, only a few studies have examined effects of parent training on both child behavior and parent stress. Some studies have found that parents who complete parent training also report lowered stress levels commensurate with improvement of child behavior. It is unclear, though, whether adding stress management would provide additional benefits to parents and their children. The purpose of this study was to look at effects of providing both parent training and stress management training to parents of preschoolers, and to look at the effects of providing treatment in a different order to two groups of parents. Parent volunteers completed seven weeks of parent training and four weeks of stress management training, with half of the parents receiving stress management first and half receiving parent training first. It was found that overall improvements in measures of parent stress and chi Id behavior were not significantly different between the two groups. Improvement in child behavior was attributed to parent training; improvement in parent stress was attributed to both parent training and stress management training, with larger improvements in parent-related stress generally attributed to stress management training and larger improvements in child-related stress attributed to parent training. However, child behavior temporarily worsened while parents received stress management training. Stress management did not enhance effects of parent training, but parents were better off on measures of stress and parenting efficacy after receiving both training components than they were after receiving only one treatment component. Parents felt more effective as parents after treatment and rated the overall treatment package highly; however, parents who received their prefened treatment first were slightly more satisfied than parents receiving prefened treatment second. Teachers reported general improvement in children whose parents received treatment and those whose parents did not receive treatment.

Parent training is an effective intervention for parents of children with a variety of childhood disorders, and parents often view behavioral parent training as acceptable. Explanations and rationales for parent training are commonly provided at the beginning of treatment. However, there is little research regarding how rationales may influence acceptability. There is also limited information on whether fathers and mothers judge the acceptability of parent training differently. The purpose of this study was to determine whether changing the description of a behavioral parenting intervention influenced parents’ acceptability ratings and whether mothers and fathers differed in their ratings. Participants viewed one of two descriptions of parent training that focused on either addressing deficits in parenting skills or enhancing existing parenting skills. The results indicated that there was not a significant difference in the acceptability of the two parent training descriptions. However, mothers rated both treatment descriptions as more acceptable than did fathers. Results also indicated that parents’ beliefs about their influence as parents significantly predicted acceptability of the parent training descriptions. The results of the current study suggested that treatment acceptability was not influenced by the way that the interventions were described. Future research should focus on how to increase acceptability of parent training for fathers and parents who do not feel that they have control and influence over their children.

Technology and psychological treatments have increasingly been used together to increase the reach of psychotherapy and potentially reduce treatment costs. This research focused on how technology has been used to deliver or facilitate treatments focused on behavioral parent training. Behavioral parent training is a research-supported method of improving parenting skills and child behavior. We first reviewed any existing research on the topic, and found that treatments that used technology to teach parenting skills were generally successful at improving parent and child behavior. The review also identified many research questions that have yet to be answered about the cost of such interventions, how they work with diverse groups of people, and what makes someone likely to stay with the treatment. The next study in this research project tested a shortened version of a technology-based treatment adapted from a group-based manual that was created for Spanish-speaking families. The program was called Padres Preparados Online (Prepared Parents Online), and it taught three parenting skills on a system that was available online or using an app. Parent coaching, typically carried out in in-person groups or on the phone, was also conducted online. Parents uploaded videos of themselves to an online system and the therapist would record and post video, audio, and text coaching comments to support parents in strengthening the skills they were learning. Results showed that parents and children improved in a variety of ways, ranging from decreased problematic child behavior to decreased parenting stress. This study demonstrated that technology can be used to deliver a parenting program to Latinx families, and helped the study team identify limitations and questions for future research. This research was financially supported by the Utah State University Psychology Department and Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services.

No description available.

Intervening early is important to minimize persistent difficulties in language and related domains in young children with or at-risk for language impairment (LI; Rescorla, 2009). Because language is first learned in caregiver–child interactions, parent-implemented interventions are potentially an important early intervention for children with or at-risk for LI. Previous meta-analyses have examined outcomes of parent-implemented interventions for children with primary and secondary LI, but have not included children at-risk for LI due to low SES. A systematic review of the literature identified 25 randomized controlled trials of parent-implemented language interventions examining linguistic outcomes for young children. Studies included 1734 participants (M = 3.7 years) with or at-risk for LI due to low SES. Results of these meta-analyses indicated modest improvements in expressive vocabulary and small improvements in expressive language for children with or at-risk for LI. The effect size for expressive vocabulary outcomes was significant for shared book reading interventions (g = 0.37, 95% CI [0.15–0.59]) and interventions implemented in play and/or routines (g = 0.50, 95% CI [0.05–0.95]). The effect size for expressive language was significant (g = 0.42, 95% CI [0.19–0.65]), but not for receptive language (g = 0.07, ns), and the effect size for receptive vocabulary was not significant (g = 0.18, ns). Sub-group analyses for expressive vocabulary and expressive language indicated moderate to large significant effects for children with or at-risk for primary LI and smaller, non-significant effects for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Findings are generally consistent with a previous meta-analysis (Roberts and Kaiser, 2011), indicating parent-implemented language interventions may have positive effects on linguistic outcomes for young children with or at-risk for LI. Limited measures of parent training procedures and varied measures of parent outcomes limited the analysis of how child outcomes were achieved.

When children return home from residential treatment for behavioral challenges, continuity of care is clinically advised and empirically supported. If parents lack the skills to support this transition, a child’s treatment gains may be at risk. Parenting difficulties can initiate oppositional and avoidant behaviors in children, and if sustained, damage the parent-child relationship, leading to poor child outcomes. Offering parent training during a child’s residential treatment may increase parent self-efficacy and use of the training in support of a child’s transition home. A Northeastern US Residential Treatment Program (RTP) annually provides short-term residential treatment for children (ages 6-18), and therapeutic supports to the parents of these children during their milieu care. RTP’s new online parenting program was evaluated across three separate but related studies, exploring in Phase 1) perceived barriers to online program usability, Phase 2) how video dosage was associated with changes in parenting self-efficacy and parenting stress, and Phase 3) through the lens of family routines, what were the longer-term effects of the online program. Results from Phase 1 suggested that parents with lower technology familiarity may need ongoing support to successfully complete online training; adding digital prompts helped parents to autonomously navigate the online program. Phase 2 results indicated that parenting self-efficacy increased minimally while children were away, and decreased when children returned home; an inverse effect was found for parenting stress. Phase 3 revealed limited application of the online parent training in post-residential family routines; parent training was shared internationally within parenting social networks, though virtually no videos were watched once children had transitioned home. Similar parenting programs using the Fogg Behavior Model may consider nudging parents during natural surges in parent motivation to prolong recently initiated therapeutic benefits during post-residential home aftercare.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience significant challenges with play, thereby affecting their development of language skills, emotional development, cognitive development, and social connections with others (Freeman & Kasari, 2013). Parent-child relationships influence many aspects of a child’s life including participation in joint play, which is when two or more individuals are playing together (Waldman-Levi, Finzi-Dottan, & Cope, 2019). There are several factors hindering parent participation in play including knowledge of play, understanding of sensory processing and its impact on play, communication during play, and mindful parenting. The following chapters discuss the evidence and theories supporting the development of the proposed program, Play 4 Parents. Play 4 Parents is an in-person group training program designed to enhance play skills of parents of children with ASD. The program uses a variety of teaching strategies, such as direct teaching, strategy practice, and at home hands-on practice. Through program participation it is anticipated that parents will gain an increase in parental sense of competence, a decrease in perceived stress, and improvements with parent-child play interactions.

In the 2021-2022 fiscal year, the monthly average number of children and youth in care in Ontario was 8,700 (OACAS, 2022ₑ). Most of these young people have histories of developmental trauma and require safety, consistency, and predictability in order to heal. As such, placement stability is a key goal within child welfare. However, placement disruptions are common and often result in widespread negative outcomes for young people in care. Within the context of the many supports that must be offered to youths and resource parents, one area of intervention includes parenting support for resource parents. The overall objective of this two-study dissertation was to assess youth and caregiver associations with the number of youth placement changes and to address some of these factors by evaluating an in-service trauma-informed parenting program. For Study 1, hierarchical regression analyses examined youth and resource parent variables associated with the number of placement changes among 1,624 Ontario youths aged 10-17 years. Study 1 utilized data from 2017 previously collected as part of the Ontario Looking After Children project, which is an initiative designed to improve developmental outcomes for young people in care in Ontario. For demographic variables, parent-model placements (i.e., foster, adoptive, kinship homes) were associated with fewer changes than residential placements. Also, younger age when first placed in care, older current youth age, and a higher number of maltreatment types experienced by the youth were associated with a greater number of placement changes. For youth variables, greater conduct problems, peer problems, and prosocial behaviour, as well as fewer internal developmental assets, were associated with greater placement changes. For caregiver variables, lower placement satisfaction was associated with a greater number of placement changes. These findings highlight the importance of considering both youth and caregiver factors that are associated with placement changes and as such, provides insight into possible areas of intervention to increase placement stability for youths in out-of-home care. Building on these results, Study 2 involved conducting a preliminary evaluation of the Resource Parent Curriculum (RPC), which is an in-service, group-based parenting program developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. This 8-module program was delivered virtually to resource parents in Ontario on six occasions during 2020-2021, with a total of 43 research participants. Youth and caregiver outcomes were examined by way of a quasi-experimental design that included 22 resource parents in the experimental group and 21 in the waitlist control and involved baseline, post-program, and 2-month follow-up assessments. In terms of resource parents' reactions, quantitative and qualitative results suggested that resource parents were highly satisfied with the program's content and delivery. For learning outcomes, RPC resulted in improvements in resource parents' knowledge and beliefs in trauma-informed parenting. While not statistically significant, post-hoc exploratory analyses revealed some potential small effects for improvements in resource parents' tolerance of challenging youth behaviours and in parenting self-efficacy. For behavioural outcomes among resource parents, several potential effects (not statistically significant) were noted with small to medium effect sizes regarding possible improvements in resource parents’ attachment relationship with their youth, increased social supports, improved family functioning, and reduced parenting distress. Study 2 was novel in being the first to evaluate RPC using a quasi-experimental design within a Canadian context and through virtual delivery. Findings highlighted both the benefits of the program as well as resource parents' ongoing training needs and required supports to improve youth well-being and placement stability.