Training parents as therapists: A comparison between individual parent‐child interaction training and parent group didactic training

Abstract

Abstract Children with home behavior problems frequently are treated via training their parents to become behavior therapists for their own children. One well‐established approach has been to use didactic group training. Another approach involves parent training in specific parent‐child interaction patterns through the use of modeling, in vivo practice, and immediate feedback. In this study, the effectiveness of these two methods was compared via multiple outcome measures, which included both direct therapist observation and parent report. Twenty‐nine children between the ages of 4 and 9 were divided into didactic group‐treatment, individual mother‐child interaction training, and controls. After five training sessions, therapist observation revealed improvement in the facilitative behavior of the mothers who received individual, in‐vivo instruction, as well as improvement in the children's behavior. No significant changes were observed in the group treatment or control conditions. Specific home management behaviors were improved in all three groups according to mothers' reports. The individually trained mothers expressed significantly more satisfaction with the program. It is suggested that direct observation of mother‐child behavior, with immediate feedback, reinforcement, and further practice, may be related to the superiority of the individual training method.