Parenting roles have grown more complex in today's changing social structure. Parents protect their psychological health while supporting their children's growth. Positive psychology concepts, such as meaning-centered coping and state desperation, play a crucial role in family dynamics. Positive psychotherapy focuses on strengths and enhances well-being. Group-based counseling provides social support and fosters self-awareness. This study examined how positive psychotherapy-based group counseling affected parents' coping and desperation. Sixty parents participated: 30 in the experimental group and 30 in the control group. The findings showed that the experimental group experienced significant changes in coping and desperation scores across all test phases.
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) is a relational intervention for children with oppositional or externalizing behaviors that target frustration tolerance, flexibility, and problem solving rather than compliance. We conducted a systematic review and mini meta-analysis of 12 studies evaluating CPS in youth aged 0-18. Using random-effects models, CPS showed outcomes equivalent to comparator interventions (e.g., Parent Management Training) at post-treatment (g = -0.04) and follow-up (g = 0.04), alongside large within-group improvements (g = 0.98-1.03). Despite risks of bias typical in psychosocial trials, findings support CPS as an evidence-based, skill-building alternative warranting further large-scale evaluation.
Active involvement of caregivers is central to effective early intervention, yet caregiver-focused outcomes remain underexplored, particularly within indirect family-centered models. This multiple-case pre-post study examined whether an eight-week caregiver-mediated indirect intervention was descriptively associated with changes in caregiver-child interaction quality and family quality of life in two children with delayed speech and language (mean age = 34 months). Caregivers received coaching from speech-language pathologists, and outcomes were measured using awareness, interaction, and quality-of-life scales. Descriptive comparisons indicated improvements across measures. Although limited by sample size, findings suggest potential benefits of caregiver-focused indirect intervention and warrant further investigation.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A) is effective for adolescents with emotional and behavioral difficulties, yet its impact on parents and broader family relational functioning remains underexplored. Understanding parents' experiences is important because they support adolescents' skills application and emotional development. This study explored 13 parents who completed a 24-week DBT-A program in Prague. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, parents described applying DBT skills across contexts, strengthening emotional bonds, increased self-awareness, and improved emotion regulation. They also reported enhanced relationships beyond the family through mindfulness and validation, suggesting parent involvement supports relational functioning and potentially intergenerational benefits of parent involvement.
Opioid use during pregnancy is associated with complications for mothers and children. Utilization of an alternative for opioid withdrawal, Kratom, has increased throughout the United States. No existing research examines childhood outcomes after exposure to Kratom in utero, despite the risk for the development of disruptive behaviors. This case study explores the use of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) for a 4-year-old male, who was exposed to Kratom continuously in utero with his mother who is in recovery. The findings illustrate that PCIT effectively mitigated the child's disruptive behavior, but the response to the parent-directed interaction phase was slower than expected.
This qualitative phenomenological study explored the experiences of 18 mothers in an eight-session online the Positive Discipline Program. Findings revealed two primary themes: "Reconstructing Parenting" and "The Social and Experiential Dimension." Participants reported increased self-awareness and emotional regulation, alongside adopting more reflective and empathic parenting practices. They perceived greater sensitivity to children's emotional needs and a shift away from authoritarian approaches. Furthermore, the group-based structure facilitated perceived peer support and normalization of challenges. Overall, parents experienced the program as a supportive, relationship-oriented intervention that enhanced their sense of parental competence and improved family interactions during early childhood.
This study examined the effects of a family-mediated, naturalistic behavioral home literacy intervention on preschool children exhibiting Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT)/Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome (CDS). Using a mixed design with three parent-child dyads, changes in the home literacy environment, parent-child interaction patterns, and children's early literacy, numeracy, and executive function-related performance were evaluated. Results indicated intervention-related behavioral improvements in parents' literacy-supportive behaviors and positive interaction patterns, alongside marked and sustained gains in children's task engagement, academic performance, and executive functioning. Overall, the findings highlight the potential of parent-mediated behavioral home literacy interventions as effective habilitative supports for preschool children with attentional and self-regulatory vulnerabilities.
The opioid epidemic has led to increased prenatal opioid exposure, putting children at risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties. Yet, no empirically supported interventions target their unique needs. We conducted a pilot study of Brief Behavioral Intervention (BBI), a short-term parent training program for disruptive behavior, delivered via videoconference, with six children (Mage = 4.61, SD = 0.84). Results showed pre- to post-intervention improvements in parent-reported child emotional and behavioral problems, executive functioning, and parenting stress. These preliminary findings support the need for further research on BBI as an intervention for children exposed to opioids during pregnancy.
Childhood behavioral problems often increase parental stress and hinder effective parenting. This study evaluated an eight-session acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) intervention delivered to three mothers using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design. Weekly measures assessed parental psychological flexibility, stress, life satisfaction, value-driven behavior, and child behavior. Visual and statistical analyses indicated reductions in psychological inflexibility and stress, improvements in well-being and value-consistent parenting, and decreases in child behavioral problems, maintained at 6-month follow-up. Findings provide preliminary support for ACT-based interventions targeting parental functioning in families with behavioral difficulties.
Exposure is the most frequently used common practice element (CPE) across evidence-based methods in the treatment of youth with anxiety disorders. Nevertheless, research indicates that exposure is underutilized and is most often based on therapists' self-reports. In the present study, we investigated whether observed exposure predicted reductions in anxiety symptoms for 37 youths (7-14 years) in therapy. Data stem from 185 videotaped therapy sessions, which were transcribed for quantitative analysis. Results showed that time spent on exposure strategies was not related to symptom reduction during treatment but significantly predicted symptom reduction at follow-up. Results support existing literature in that exposure may be a key CPE in treatment of anxiety disorders among youth.
BackgroundThe Bridge Skill Development Program is a brief, caregiver-mediated intervention utilizing discrete trial teaching.MethodsCaregivers of fifty-three Bridge participants and 33 non-Bridge participants were surveyed about service utilization during the 12 months post-autism diagnosis.ResultsChildren who completed Bridge were significantly more likely to enroll in applied behavior analysis (ABA) compared to non-Bridge peers, regardless of sex, race, insurance, or other services.DiscussionEarly and individualized exposure to ABA principles shortly after autism diagnosis may increase future ABA engagement. Future research should examine additional factors, including perceptions of ABA, availability, or access barriers, which may help explain this association.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental condition in children and adolescents. Parent training is a key non-pharmacological intervention, but many families face challenges in accessing traditional programs. We developed a mobile application-featuring educational content, parenting strategies, medication reminders, and note-taking-and evaluated its use alongside routine care. Among 160 parents of children aged 4-18 years, those using the app showed greater gains in ADHD-related knowledge and reported larger improvements in their child's inattention, hyperactivity, and defiant behaviors compared to controls receiving routine care alone. Findings suggest that digital tools may complement standard care; however, larger, longer-term studies are needed.
This case study evaluated a parent-implemented, telehealth-delivered intervention to increase self-feeding in a 3-year-old child with autism and a pediatric feeding disorder. Initial treatment using differential reinforcement and prompting was ineffective, but a backward chaining procedure with graduated guidance led to rapid acquisition of independent self-feeding. The child achieved full independence with preferred foods and generalized skills to moderately preferred items. The parent implemented the intervention with high fidelity during telehealth sessions. Findings demonstrate the feasibility of using telehealth to coach caregivers in structured behavioral feeding interventions and highlight the potential for expanding access to underserved families.
This study aimed to identify preschool children with problematic technology use and examine the impact of digital parenting education on parents' digital parenting attitudes. This study examined problematic technology use among children aged 3 to 5 and employed a pretest-posttest design to evaluate the effect of digital parenting education on parents' attitudes. The study revealed that 73.5% of children aged 3-5 used technological devices for two hours or more daily, primarily for passive activities like watching videos. Furthermore, digital parenting education significantly influenced parents' approval of effective digital media use and their awareness of digital media risks.
Antecedent-based interventions, such as high probability (high-p) instructional sequence, have mixed results to treat feeding problems. Positive outcomes have been reported when high-p treatment is combined with escape extinction; however, inappropriate behaviors can be problematic. In this study we evaluated feeding behaviors using a treatment package that included escape extinction with high-p treatment and food type fading. The assessment was used to identify the high-p request and to determine the starting point. Food fading was also used, where foods similar to the high-p request were introduced first. Acceptance increased and inappropriate behavior remained low from the onset of treatment.
There is a need for innovative language interventions for autistic children that target critical language-building blocks. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and its Child-Directed Interaction (CDI) phase appear promising. However, the effect of CDI on autistic children's preverbal behaviors and their parents' linguistic behaviors is yet to be studied. Using a multiple-baseline design including three mother-son dyads, this study found that CDI improved children's gesture use and joint attention, as well as their parents' linguistic behaviors. Findings support the recent trend toward parent-implemented language interventions for autistic children and offer innovative ideas for brief language interventions.
This study investigated the effectiveness of Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT), a behavioral intervention, combined with Brain Gym (BG) on behavioral problems in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In a clinical trial with 36 children in Kashan and Arak during 2020-2021, the intervention group received Dennison and Landreth-Bratton protocols. Data were collected using Rutter, GARS-2, and RCPM at baseline (T1), post-intervention (T2), and two-month follow-up (T3). Results showed a significant interaction between time-intervention on behavioral severity, p < 0.0001, with the intervention group showing improvement at T2 and T3. The results suggest a combination of CPRT and BG can reduce ASD's behavior problems.
