Investigating the Effectiveness of Behavioral Parent Training With Involuntary Clients in Child Welfare Settings

Abstract

Objective: Whether parents could be taught to use behavior-analytic child-management skills. Method: Eleven parents typically labeled as difficult to train participated in one of two experimental parent-training programs at child-welfare agencies within the city of Chicago. Four classes of desirable parenting skills were recorded by observers during parent-child interactions in diverse settings, and the data were analyzed in single-subject designs. Results: Training produced improvements in the parenting skills observed. Follow-up observations occurring up to 6 months after training revealed that the parents continued to use these skills, sometimes at levels better than during their training. Conclusions: Behavioral parent training is an effective strategy for teaching parents with deficient parenting skills. Recommendations for conducting parent training with this population are discussed.