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Web-assisted parenting intervention improves child, parent behaviors

An Internet-assisted parent training program significantly improved disruptive behavior in children aged 4 years in addition to self-reported parenting skills.

“Childhood disruptive behavior disorders are developmental precursors to a wide range of negative outcomes, including peer rejection, school failure, psychopathologic conditions, substance abuse, suicidality and criminality. Approximately half of the children who have been identified as aggressive with externalizing behavior as preschoolers develop persistent problems,” Andre Sourander, MD, PhD, of the University of Turku, Finland, and colleagues wrote. “Parent training is the most effective approach to the psychosocial treatment of disruptive behavioral problems and one of the best-validated therapeutic techniques. In parent training interventions, parents typically learn to identify, define and observe problem behaviors in new ways and acquire strategies to prevent and respond to oppositional behavior.”

To assess efficacy of an Internet-assisted intervention for disruptive behavior in children, researchers conducted a 2-parallel-group randomized clinical trial from October 2011 through November 2013. Parents of children aged 4 years (n = 464) were randomly assigned to the Strongest Families Smart Website (SFSW) intervention or an educational control. The intervention consisted of 11 sessions of Internet-assisted parent training and weekly telephone coaching.

At 12-month follow-up, children of parents in the SFSW intervention exhibited significantly greater improvement on the Child Behavior Checklist version for preschool children (CBCL/1.5-5) externalizing scale (P < .001), internalizing scale (P < .001) and total scores (P < .001).

Children in the intervention group also exhibited significantly greater improvement on syndrome scales for aggression (P < .001), sleep (P = .002), withdrawal (P = .005), anxiety (P = .003) and emotional problems (P = .001).

Callousness scores (P = .03) and self-reported parenting skills (P < .001) also significantly improved in the intervention group.

“The study reveals the feasibility of a parent training intervention offered to parents of high-risk children screened from the population and referred to Internet-assisted parent training with telephone coaching,” the researchers wrote. “Given flexibility, anonymity and ease of access, remote interventions have important benefits for reaching at-risk individuals. The strategy of population-based screening of children at an early age and offering Internet-assisted parent training that uses telephone coaching could be a promising solution for providing early prevention and intervention for a variety of child mental health problems.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: Sourander reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of all authors’ relevant financial disclosures.