Externalizing behavior problems such as noncompliance, tantrums, and aggression constitutes the most frequently cited reason for referral of young children to mental health clinics. The treatment for conduct problems (CP) that possesses the greatest amount of empirical support is referred to as behavioral parent training (BPT). Yet available data suggest that after accounting for treatment failures and dropouts, only about one third of children receiving BPT benefit significantly. More recently, there has been a shift towards the development of early intervention and prevention models for treating children at-risk for developing CP. While many of these programs have been shown to be effective, they fail to address shortcomings of BPT such as the length of treatment and the context of service delivery. Furthermore, the majority of these programs continue to be classified as selective or indicated prevention programs, thereby targeting children once they have already begun showing elevated levels of disruptive behaviors. More recently, a preventative and abbreviated version of BPT, called preventative behavioral parent training (PBPT), has been developed to address the limitations inherent in BPT. A recent evaluation of PBPT has demonstrated its utility in reducing rates of noncompliance and tantruming in children at-risk for developing CP. This study sought to add to previous findings regarding PBPT by evaluating its effectiveness when disseminated as a universal prevention program within a primary care setting. More specifically, this study aimed to evaluate whether PBPT could be utilized to support parents in learning effective strategies for managing their young child's typical misbehaviors, thereby preventing the development of clinical levels of CP and strengthening the practices of all parents. Results demonstrated that PBPT yielded positive outcomes in regards to both child and parent outcome variables. Furthermore, program evaluation data revealed that the PBPT program was socially acceptable and the strategies discussed were both feasible and effective. Taken together, the current study provides preliminary evidence of the positive proximal impact of the PBPT program. Potential clinical implications of these findings and future directions for research are discussed.

Parent’s ability to implement a skill like time out is considered to have generality when it lasts over time, it appears in environments in which it was not initially trained, and it is seen in use for child behaviors it was not initially trained for. A recent study suggested that parents have difficulty implementing time out in the home when they are supposed to (Jensen et al., 2016). The present study aimed to determine if there were difficulties in stimulus or setting generalization. Six parent participants completed pre and post training in-home naturalistic video observations, as well as a generalization probe role-play test following training. Results showed that parent’s accuracy and parent’s ability to implement when they should were two different skills. Parents scored high for accuracy of steps correct in both the post training in-home observations and the generalization probe role-plays. However, parent’s correct attempts out of the possible opportunities were only moderate in the post training generalization probes and poor in both the pre and post training in-home observations. How to implement time out was the only skill directly taught to parents and not when to implement time out. The authors suggest that knowing when to implement time out may be a generalization deficit and a recognition of opportunities in the home deficit. This version of time out training may benefit from additional training to foster generalization. Future research may benefit from systematically analyzing whether parents can recognize opportunities for time out in the home through other parent in-home videos and if they can, more emphasis on generalization of a skill to the parent’s home would be necessary in training.

The increasing prevalence of autism in the United States is a growing concern, with access to evidence-based services failing to keep pace with the demand. Families located in rural or remote areas are further hindered in attempts to access services due to both location and general lack of medical and behavioral healthcare providers. A major advancement in spreading the reach of interventions, such as applied behavior analysis, has been the development and refinement of telehealth. With growing interest in using technology to reach a wider client base, research on telehealth-based parent training for families impacted by autism has begun to increase. Despite the increase in research, many areas remain underdeveloped; therefore, this project sought to contribute to the literature by investigating the effectiveness of and expanding upon a manualized, behaviorally based parent-training program designed specifically for telehealth delivery. Procedures in Study 1 examined the relationship between standardized, parent-report measures of child problem behavior and an observational measure delivered via telehealth using Pearson Correlation Coefficients. Results of this study suggested using a combination of standardized measures and comprehensive observation-based data collection methods may enhance remote monitoring of child problem behavior. Procedures in Study 2 replicated and extended previous research to evaluate the Online and Applied System for Intervention Skills (OASIS-D) parent-training program as a method for increasing parent knowledge and skill in delivering applied behavior analytic (ABA) services to their child with autism. Effectiveness of the training program was evaluated in a multiple baseline across family dyad design. The results indicated that telehealth delivery of the OASIS-D program increases parent skill and knowledge in delivering ABA services, with four of four participants showing similar effects. Furthermore, the results indicated that telehealth-based training programs could benefit individuals in rural and remote areas. These studies provide needed information and support for increasing the availability and continued access of telehealth-delivered interventions when providing treatments to families impacted by autism.

Dissemination and Implementation (D&I) Science is an evolving field of models and methods aimed at closing the research-practice gap. This chapter provides an overview of D&I Science with particular emphasis on its relevance for academic and clinical medical family therapists (MedFTs) and/or graduate students in training. It begins with a discussion of the poor reach of evidence-based treatments, building a case for the evolution of D&I Science. Basic definitions of dissemination research and implementation research are provided, followed by a description of the characteristics of D&I Science. Two exemplary D&I models are described with examples that relate to MedFT. The chapter closes with a discussion about how the reader can learn more about this dynamic and growing field.

Early Childhood educators agree on the significant influence of a parent on a child’s literacy development. The environment a parent provides, in addition to the opportunities a child has in the early years, have a major influence on a child’s literacy development. This study sought to determine how parents in a low-income socioeconomic group perceived literacy development and how their preschool-age children performed on an emergent literacy assessment. The 64 study participants were recruited from a Head Start program in the central Appalachian Mountains. An overwhelming majority of participants were mother/child dyads, every participant spoke English as a primary language, and the majority of the participants identified their race as white. Participants were asked to complete a demographic survey and a questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to identify parents as either having a more emergent or more traditional perception of literacy development. This data was used to determine if identifying characteristics, such as education level or caregiver role, have an influence on a parent’s perceptions (emergent or traditional) of literacy development. Additionally, parents were asked to document the 5 most important things they are doing to help their child become a successful reader. It was concluded that no significant relationship exists between the parental perceptions and the child’s emergent literacy skills. The significance of this finding is two-fold. First, parent trainings in literacy development must focus on specific skills or methods that parents need to encourage literacy development, instead of the theoretical approach behind literacy development. Additionally, the sample overwhelmingly reported “reading to their child” as something they value; therefore, parent trainings should focus on how to share stories with a child, instead of simply asserting the necessity of reading to a child.

This study represents a unique collaboration between the State of Utah's Division of Services for People with Disabilities (DSPD) and Brigham Young University's Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education (CPSE) and the Family Studies Center. Families with children with disabilities and problem behaviors may spend 5 to 10 years on the Utah DSPD Family Support waiting list before receiving support services. Families with children with disabilities and problem behavior experience difficult challenges with limited amounts of resources. CPSE graduate students offered behavioral education to 17 families on the DSPD waiting list in the family's homes for 10 weeks. Positive Behavior Support (PBS) provided the framework for the behavioral education. PBS takes a positive view of children with disabilities, including those with problem behavior, as they live with their families. Graduate students taught parents to use functional behavior assessment in developing a behavior support plan for their child with disabilities and problem behavior. Parents implemented the behavior plan, and taught their child appropriate alternative behaviors. Using pre- and post-assessments, significant gains were seen in lowering the severity of the children's inattentive, withdrawn, and uncooperative problem behaviors.

This study was designed to address the need for improved collaborative experiences for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) parents of students with disabilities. Historically, these individuals have had limited interactions with special education services and professionals, particularly at the middle school level. To improve the collaborative relationship between CLD families and schools, the study offered collaborative training sessions designed to provide opportunities for parents to build on their current knowledge base and skills for effective partnerships with school personnel. The goal of the training was to increase the types and frequency of school involvement by CLD parents. The participants for this study consisted of teachers and parents of culturally diverse groups of middle grade students in special education transitioning from an urban elementary school into a suburban middle school. Hence, the researcher evaluated parent perceptions of the collaborative experience to determine the effects it had on future efforts to collaborate. Student perceptions of both the collaborative process and the teacher's ability to provide services that embrace cultural differences and reflect high expectations were also assessed. Overall evaluation of Parent Collaborative Training (PCT) demonstrated a direct influence on the behaviors of parents as well as students and teachers, who were indirectly affected by the parenting behaviors. The training influenced parents' knowledge and skills, opinions of students regarding their parents and teachers, and showed higher ratings for students across three domains: student behaviors, student capabilities, and teacher expectations.

Objective:The present study evaluated the effectiveness of a parenting program designed specifically for hyperactive preschoolers. Method: Participants were 31 preschool-aged children whose parents were randomly assigned to a treatment or waitlist group. Parents who were assigned to the treatment group took part in a 14-week parenting program that involved teaching parenting strategies to manage hyperactive and disruptive behavior as well as emotion socialization strategies to increase children's emotion regulation. Results: The present study's findings were mixed. There were significant changes on a number of measures of child functioning and parent behavior for families who took part in the parenting program, but these findings were tempered by several nonsignificant findings. Compared to control families, families who participated in the parenting program evidenced significant changes in mothers' reports of child inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptoms, observations of mothers' positive parenting and negative affect, and mothers' self-reported verbosity, punitive reactions, and minimizing/discouraging reactions. Moreover, parent training fathers reported decreases in child inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptoms. However, treatment families did not significantly differ on mothers' ratings of child lability/negativity and internalizing behavior; audiotaped child behavior; or mothers' self-reported overreactivity, laxness, expressive encouragement, and emotion- and problem-focused reactions. Conclusions: Results provide some support for the effectiveness of the parenting program for reducing ADHD symptoms in preschool-aged children.

Self-control can be defined as the ability to select a larger, later reward over a smaller, sooner reward. This ability, also known as gratification delay, has been highly correlated with academic competence and success. Studies that examine gratification delay have identified strategies that have been observed to increase the delay time to reward. This study examined the extent to which parents of children with Autism or a related disability could be trained to teach these strategies. Participants were seven mothers who were all ethnic Albanian. The results indicated that these mothers were able to teach the three strategies they were trained on at a high quality and that there was a preference for one strategy over the other two.

Mothers of children with autism face unique challenges that can negatively impact their well-being. Frequently, these challenges require elevated amounts of time, energy, and money to address. In an effort to investigate a low-demand approach to improving well-being, this study employed a signature strengths intervention with mothers of children with autism. Thus far, research on signature strengths with this specific population is very limited. Five mothers of children with autism participated in the study. All were married and highly educated. Four identified themselves as white, one as Hispanic. They ranged in age from 25-44. Each mother had between one and three children with autism. The participants attended an online meeting with the researcher after identifying their strengths. During the meeting, they discussed ways they already used their strengths, as well as more ways they might use them in the future. The participants then entered a four-week practice period. Each week they focused on one strength, aiming to use each strength in three new ways over the allotted seven days. The participants completed surveys to measure parental distress and life satisfaction at three points: baseline, immediately after a four-week intervention phase, and one month after the end of the intervention phase. Additionally, they answered a daily question that queried life satisfaction on a Likert-scale throughout the baseline and intervention phases. Overall, the group reported a decrease in parental distress and an increase in their level of life satisfaction and daily satisfaction. These results add to other research that has found beneficial outcomes for mothers of children with autism who are taught to use their strengths more often. The use of signature strengths interventions could help to address a critical need among this group of mothers: mental health support that does not require excessive effort or time.