ABSTRACT
Disruptive behavior disorders affect 10.75% of children and cause significant problems throughout life (Alizadeh et al., 2019;APA, 2013;Azeredo et al., 2018;Frick & Loney, 1999;Kofler et al., 2015;Leadbeater & Ames, 2016;Liu et al., 2017). The defiant behavior that is a common symptom of these disorders has shown to occur at higher rates when the child's parent uses a more harsh, negative, or neglectful parenting style (Brown et al., 2017;Giannotta & Rydell, 2016;Ghosh et al., 2017;Lavigne et al., 2016;Lin et al., 2019;Tung & Lee, 2014). To treat children's defiant behavior, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) addresses ineffective parenting styles by teaching parents positive parenting skills (Eyberg & Funderburk, 2011). While PCIT has been shown to be effective in reducing oppositional behavior for children between the ages of three and seven years old, many families are unable to access individual PCIT due to its resource-heavy nature (i.e. price, time commitment, technology requirement) (Barkley, 1986;Chen & Fortson, 2015;Kazdin, 2008;Kazdin et al., 1997;Lanier et al., 2011;Lyon & Budd, 2010;Matos et al., 2006). Alternative forms of PCIT like group PCIT, intensive PCIT and brief group PCIT have addressed some of these limitations of individual PCIT but no alternative form has addressed each limitation. The current study sought to address prior limitations by exploring whether an alternative form of remote PCIT, Intensive Group-Format PCIT (IG-PCIT), would be as effective in addressing children's oppositional behavior and parents' positive parenting skill acquisition as remote standard, individual PCIT and remote group PCIT. The current study consisted of 36 child-parent dyads. Participants were quasirandomly placed in the remote IG-PCIT condition (16 participants), the remote individual PCIT condition (10 participants), or the remote group PCIT condition (nine participants). The individual PCIT condition offered PCIT remotely and individually over a 12-week span. The group PCIT condition offered PCIT in a remote group format over the span of 12 weeks. The IG-PCIT condition consisted of four remote weekly group sessions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all conditions were held virtually. The researcher of the current study found that remote IG-PCIT, remote group PCIT, and remote individual PCIT significantly reduced child externalizing behavior and parenting stress from pre- to post-treatment overall, but both areas did not significantly reduce for each individual dyad. The reductions were also maintained at the three months follow up. It was found that all three treatment conditions did significantly improve positive parenting skills (i.e. reflections, labelled praises, and behavior descriptions) and directive parenting skills (i.e. questions, commands, and negative talk) and these improvements were maintained at the three months follow up. The current researcher found that the remote IG-PCIT condition was as effective in improving child externalizing behaviors, parenting stress, and parenting skill use as the remote group PCIT and the remote individual PCIT conditions. No significant relationships between change in positive parenting skills and change in parenting stress or child externalizing behavior were found. The highest attrition rates were found in the remote individual PCIT condition. Lastly, high levels of treatment satisfaction for all three treatment conditions were reported. The researcher of the current study interpreted these results to suggest that all three remote conditions, IG-PCIT, group PCIT, and individual PCIT, can effectively improve child externalizing behavior, parenting stress, and parenting skill use. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Disruptive behavior disorders affect 10.75% of children and cause significant problems throughout life (Alizadeh et al., 2019;APA, 2013;Azeredo et al., 2018;Frick & Loney, 1999;Kofler et al., 2015;Leadbeater & Ames, 2016;Liu et al., 2017). The defiant behavior that is a common symptom of these disorders has shown to occur at higher rates when the child's parent uses a more harsh, negative, or neglectful parenting style (Brown et al., 2017;Giannotta & Rydell, 2016;Ghosh et al., 2017;Lavigne et al., 2016;Lin et al., 2019;Tung & Lee, 2014). To treat children's defiant behavior, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) addresses ineffective parenting styles by teaching parents positive parenting skills (Eyberg & Funderburk, 2011). While PCIT has been shown to be effective in reducing oppositional behavior for children between the ages of three and seven years old, many families are unable to access individual PCIT due to its resource-heavy nature (i.e. price, time commitment, technology requirement) (Barkley, 1986;Chen & Fortson, 2015;Kazdin, 2008;Kazdin et al., 1997;Lanier et al., 2011;Lyon & Budd, 2010;Matos et al., 2006). Alternative forms of PCIT like group PCIT, intensive PCIT and brief group PCIT have addressed some of these limitations of individual PCIT but no alternative form has addressed each limitation. The current study sought to address prior limitations by exploring whether an alternative form of remote PCIT, Intensive Group-Format PCIT (IG-PCIT), would be as effective in addressing children's oppositional behavior and parents' positive parenting skill acquisition as remote standard, individual PCIT and remote group PCIT. The current study consisted of 36 child-parent dyads. Participants were quasirandomly placed in the remote IG-PCIT condition (16 participants), the remote individual PCIT condition (10 participants), or the remote group PCIT condition (nine participants). The individual PCIT condition offered PCIT remotely and individually over a 12-week span. The group PCIT condition offered PCIT in a remote group format over the span of 12 weeks. The IG-PCIT condition consisted of four remote weekly group sessions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all conditions were held virtually. The researcher of the current study found that remote IG-PCIT, remote group PCIT, and remote individual PCIT significantly reduced child externalizing behavior and parenting stress from pre- to post-treatment overall, but both areas did not significantly reduce for each individual dyad. The reductions were also maintained at the three months follow up. It was found that all three treatment conditions did significantly improve positive parenting skills (i.e. reflections, labelled praises, and behavior descriptions) and directive parenting skills (i.e. questions, commands, and negative talk) and these improvements were maintained at the three months follow up. The current researcher found that the remote IG-PCIT condition was as effective in improving child externalizing behaviors, parenting stress, and parenting skill use as the remote group PCIT and the remote individual PCIT conditions. No significant relationships between change in positive parenting skills and change in parenting stress or child externalizing behavior were found. The highest attrition rates were found in the remote individual PCIT condition. Lastly, high levels of treatment satisfaction for all three treatment conditions were reported. The researcher of the current study interpreted these results to suggest that all three remote conditions, IG-PCIT, group PCIT, and individual PCIT, can effectively improve child externalizing behavior, parenting stress, and parenting skill use. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
When a child is confronted with severe, long-lasting stressors and is not buffered from these negative circumstances by a caring and capable adult, their body's stress response system is compromised, leading to what is referred to as "toxic stress." These negative experiences early in a child's life lead to difficulties in learning, behavior, and overall physical and mental health. These challenges can be both short and long term, with potentially devastating effects on the child's ability to develop relationships, perform well in school and in the workplace, and choose healthy lifestyle habits that support physical and mental well-being. Millions of children in America, with children of color disproportionately represented, were battling toxic stress before the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is still unknown the extent to which the pandemic will exacerbate these risk factors. While it is difficult to maintain hope and optimism in the face of such overwhelming adversity, the science of resilience does help justify this position. Decades of resilience research demonstrate that key protective factors can be cultivated to support children and families to successfully confront adversity and achieve positive outcomes. These protective factors are found externally within the environment and the family as well as within the individual. This chapter will focus on those protective factors that are drawn from within children, including skills and behaviors that are strengthened through healthy relationships with parents and other important adult caregivers. Practical applications for strengthening children's within-child protective factors will be discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Purpose: This article compares outcomes of a family-based prevention program from its original in-person mode to an online mode in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Celebrating Families!TM is designed to improve parenting skills, family functioning, and family relationships to break the cycle of substance use problems. Method: This mixed-methods, quasi-experimental study compared outcomes of in-person and online treatment conditions and content analysis of open-ended responses to a satisfaction survey. Results: Both groups showed improvement in outcomes, with moderate effect sizes and high satisfaction. Average scores of the online groups were generally lower than the in-person scores. Qualitative data yielded participants' accounts of improvements in parenting behaviors, family relationships, coping skills, and knowledge insights. Conclusions: Despite the contexts of COVID-19, findings provided evidence that such relational group interventions can be feasibly administered online and can effect changes required to break the cycle of substance use problems and adverse family experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Children vaccination is a key intervention for their survival, especially among refugees. Yet, children vaccination registration is done manually in refugees camps and there is no possibility to send reminders to parents to come back on time. We aimed to boost the parental registration of children's vaccination records on a Children Immunization app (CIMA) while also availing the parents with useful parenting skills under COVID-19-related stress. METHODS: We incorporated United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Parenting Skills under COVID-19 information material, through CIMA in Arabic and English languages. We recruited 1100 children in February-March 2021, through a community health promotion dissemination approach. A team of two nurses from the local population and two volunteers (one trained nurse and one trained social worker), from the camp, was formed. They promoted the CIMA app at two clinics and through households visits in Zaatari refugee camp. Qualitative data on impressions and observations of the interactions with the Zaatari camp community were also collected. RESULTS: A total of 1100 children, up to 15 months of age, eligible for vaccination were enrolled in CIMA, whereby the staff explained the content of the app in terms of vaccination schedule, health promotion materials for vaccination and parenting skills to their caregivers. During the household visits, the volunteers identified a total of 70 children that have incomplete history of vaccination records (n = 42/70 girls, 60%). Also, opportunities and challenges for scaling the app were documented. CONCLUSION: The scaling of CIMA as an innovative means of dissemination of risk and health information in challenging context such as refugee camps was feasible. In the context of vaccination needs for children, in refugee settings, such a need is more eminent, particularly in the context of COVID-19.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Mobile Applications , Refugees , Social Capital , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/prevention & control , Child , Female , Humans , Jordan/epidemiology , Pandemics , Parents , SARS-CoV-2 , Smartphone , VaccinationABSTRACT
Positive parenting comprises the primary caregivers' competencies to provide affection and guarantee the child's safety, which favors the integral development of the infant. In relation to this, praise is positive feedback from the parents towards what the child does, having an impact on the child's behaviors Based on the influence of parenting practices on the mental health of families, it is relevant to study the relationship between Positive Parenting (Positive Parenting Scale;EP2) and Praise (Praise Scale) in Latin American primary caregivers of children. as from 0 to 36 months, specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic. A positive association was found between praise, positive parenting and the age of the infant. During the context of ASPO, it was found that 53.1% of primary caregivers are between the risk and monitoring zone with regard to parenting. From this, policies could be used to encourage the use of favorable praise and parenting skills, especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
The aim of the present study was to analyze and compare the decision-making process under uncertainty (TDBI) and low risk (TDBR), and its relationship with executive subcomponents of working memory (MT) and planning, in children and adolescents. A comparative descriptive study was carried out with a retrospective ex post facto type design with two groups. The sample was made up of 110 children and adolescents from 8 to 16 years old, divided into two groups;65 children from 8 to 11 years old and 45 adolescents from 12 to 16 years old. The results showed a riskier behavior in children in the TDBR while no differences were found in the TDBI. Thus, adolescents exhibited safer behavior in TDBR and similar behavior to children in TDBI. In addition, the results suggest a differential contribution of executive functioning in both types of decision-making, while the capacity of MT and planning was related to a better performance in TDBR, no associations with TDBI were found.