Family preservation using multisystemic treatment: Long-term follow-up to a clinical trial with serious juvenile offenders

In a randomized clinical trial, multisystemic family preservation was shown to significantly reduce rates of criminal activity and incarceration in a sample of 84 serious juvenile offenders and their multi-need families. In the current study, archival records were searched for re-arrest an average of 2.4 years post-referral. Survival analysis showed that youths who received multisystemic family preservation were less likely to be re-arrested than were youths who had received usual services. Such results represent the first controlled demonstration that family preservation, when delivered via a clearly specified treatment model, has lasting effects with serious juvenile offenders. Implications for family preservation and juvenile justice research are discussed.     

MODIFICATION OF THE EXCESSIVE INAPPROPRIATE CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR OF TWO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS USING HOME-BASED CONSEQUENCES AND DAILY REPORT-CARD PROCEDURES1

Two experiments investigated home-based reinforcement contingencies to control excessive behavior in normal classrooms. Subjects were, respectively, a 12-yr-old fifth-grade boy and a 9-yr-old fourth-grade boy, each in a separate classroom and with a different teacher. Following baseline observations in which observers recorded several categories of student behavior and teacher-student interaction, separate conferences were held including parents of the two children, the principal, teachers, and experimenters. A daily report-card procedure was agreed on, stipulating a one-day suspension from school following three successive “undesirable” daily report cards as well as the supervision of home-based privileges and other reinforcers usually contingent on satisfactory daily reports. Measurements of daily rates of teacher attention indicated no important change in this variable throughout the various experimental conditions. The daily report procedure significantly reduced disruptive classroom behavior. In a second experiment, a teacher-operated timer cued her own time-sample observations. Reliability measures revealed that the teacher could accurately measure the child's behavior while she was teaching the class. The procedure was ultimately successfully expanded to the teacher's total contact hours each day.     

Comparison of Mothers' and Fathers' Opinions of Parent–Child Interaction Therapy

Opinions of parenting programs mostly have been obtained from mothers. Because mothers and fathers' interactions with children differ, gathering data from both parents regarding behavior modification and parenting programs is necessary. This project was part of a larger study and compared mothers and fathers' acceptability of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and its various components. Acceptability data were obtained using the Treatment Evaluation Inventory-Short Form and a modified version of this measure assessing specific PCIT components. The sample consisted of 40 community mother-father pairs of a young male child. Findings suggest gender differences in PCIT treatment acceptability and various PCIT components.     

Continuous Access to Competing Stimulation as Intervention for Self-Injurious Skin Picking in a Child with Autism

Children with autism frequently display self-injurious behavior (SIB), but skin picking—a less severe topography of SIB—has not been the focus of much clinical research. The present study evaluated a home-based intervention that was implemented with a 9-year-old girl who had autism and picked her fingers with resulting tissue damage. The intervention allowed the girl to hold and manipulate preferred objects during play and leisure activities. Evaluated in an ABAB reversal design, intervention essentially eliminated skin picking. Clinical and research implications are discussed.     

Impacts of Home-Based Telework on Quality of Life for Employees and Their Partners. Quantitative and Qualitative Results From a European Survey

The study investigates the effects of home-based telework on quality of life (QoL). Four dimensions of QoL were analysed; overall satisfaction with life, sense of belonging, sense of becoming and sense of being. Through cross-national survey data (from 217 job holders and 112 partners) and by means of structural equation modeling, a positive association was found between home-based telework to a worker's sense of belonging (beta = 0.30, p < 0.001). On the other hand, a negative path was detected from the job holder's home-based telework to his or her partner's overall satisfaction with life (beta = –0.27, p < 0.05). After controlling for subdimensions of life quality, home-based work did not affect the job holder's overall life satisfaction. Moreover, the more concentration the job holder reported, the lower the sense of belonging was reported by his or her partner (beta = –0.28, p < 0.05). No simple explanation for the negative effects were found, but our interviews with the group of workers and their families leave us the impression that the problem of overworking and withdrawal was most relevant to the cases, in combination with negative spill-over effects and unclear boundary settings in the home.     

Brief Report: Safe at Home Base: Working Parents' Reasons for Choice of Home-Based Child Care

The current generation of working parents faces new challenges to the traditional family model. Despite this, they select forms of home-based child care more than any other type of care. Prior data also reveal that parents who use home-based care, center-based care, and family day care all cite quality as the primary reason for their choice. Given the similarity of reason and the difference in care actually used, working parents who use home-based care were interviewed on additional reasons for their choice. These parents lacked confidence in center-based care and preferred their children to receive one-to-one attention. Age of child, cost of care, and availability of centers did not affect choice. These adults seem to be selecting home-based care in an attempt to provide care as close as possible to parental care. They are making a statement on the importance of the home environment even as their participation in the workplace increases.     

TREATING OVERWEIGHT CHILDREN THROUGH PARENTAL TRAINING AND CONTINGENCY CONTRACTING1

Fifteen overweight girls aged 5 to 11 yr were randomly assigned to one of two weight-reduction treatments: response-cost plus reinforcement, response-cost only, or a no-treatment control group. In the response-cost plus reinforcement group, parents contracted to facilitate their child's weight loss by carrying out reinforcement and stimulus control techniques, completing weekly charts and graphs, and encouraging their child to exercise. The response-cost only group parents did not contract to reinforce their child's performance. The response-cost program applied to both experimental groups was conducted in weekly meetings in which parents lost previously deposited sums of money. Twenty-five per cent was deducted for missing the weekly meeting, 25% for failing to fill out charts and graphs, and 50% if their child failed to meet her specified weekly weight-loss goal. At the end of the 12-week treatment period, both experimental groups had lost significantly more weight than the control group. After an eight-week, no-contact follow-up, some of the lost weight was regained. The response-cost plus reinforcement group was still significantly below the controls. The response-cost group just missed significance. A 31-week, no-contact follow-up failed to show a treatment effect, but did show a trend towards slower weight gain by the response-cost plus reinforcement group.     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TREATMENT-RESEARCH PROJECT FOR DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED AND AUTISTIC CHILDREN

This paper describes the development and main results over the last 30 years from the treatment-research project with developmentally disabled (autistic) children in the Psychology Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Three important dimensions in treatment research are addressed. The first pertains to the role of serendipity or accidental discoveries, the second to the importance of pursuing inductive rather than theory-driven research, and the third to the importance of adding in a cumulative and step-wise manner to improve treatment adequacy. Data from various areas of treatment research have been used to illustrate new directions for the project. These illustrations center on early and successful attempts to isolate experimentally the environmental variables that control self-injury, failure to observe response and stimulus generalization with subsequent loss of treatment gains, and the main results of intensive and early behavioral intervention in the child's natural environment. Effective treatment for severe behavioral disorders is seen to require early intervention carried out during all or most of the child's waking hours, addressing all significant behaviors in all of the child's environments, by all significant persons, for many years.     

TREATING CHRONIC FOOD REFUSAL IN YOUNG CHILDREN: HOME-BASED PARENT TRAINING

We evaluated the effects of a behavioral parent training program on parent and child feeding-related behaviors in the home. We trained mothers to initiate regular offerings of previously rejected (target) foods and to provide contingent attention (i.e., specific prompts, positive reinforcement) to increase their child's acceptance of nonpreferred foods. For 1 subject, we also directed training at increasing self-eating. Results of a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across 3 mother-child dyads demonstrated that, with training, all mothers increased offerings of target foods and use of specific prompts, and 2 mothers increased levels of positive attention. In turn, children increased their acceptance of target foods and self-eating, thus demonstrating the functional effects of parent training on in-home mealtimes. Temporary increases in food refusals occurred when treatment was initiated but declined as treatment continued. We discuss the results in terms of the potential benefits and limitations of a home-based treatment model.     

Examining the Efficacy of Online Administration of a Time-Limited School Readiness Intervention in the Face of COVID-19

Although the efficacy of online administration of behavioral parent training (BPT) programs is well-established, such programs address a single risk factor (behavioral functioning) for school readiness difficulties (comprised of academics, cognitive skills, and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning). The current study aims to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a telemedicine delivery of the School Readiness Parenting Program (SRPP), an integrative adaptation of PCIT designed to address the behavioral and academic domains of school readiness. The present study takes the first step towards validating an online administration of the SRPP as a treatment for early childhood disruptive behavior. Data were collected for 64 children ages 2–6 years (M^age = 4.63, SD = 0.86; 78.1% Hispanic/Latinx) and their families, who received either in-person administration of time-limited PCIT (PCIT-TL; n=30) or online administration of SRPP (n=34). A series of repeated measures ANOVAS were conducted to examine within and between group effects. Results revealed that both SRPP and PCIT-TL significantly reduced inattention (d’s = −0.54 to −0.88), aggression (d’s = −0.55 to −1.06), and behavioral symptomology (d’s = −0.55 to −0.85) and produced significant gains in parental skills (d’s = −1.47 to 2.99). Notably, online SRPP demonstrated greater improvement in positive parental verbalization, whereas PCIT-TL demonstrated greater reductions in parental stress. Overall, findings support the utility of online SRPP for addressing behavioral school readiness concerns.