32.2 BEHAVIORAL PARENT SUPPORT

Abstract

This presentation will review the evidence-based and practical implementation of behavioral parent support. Behavioral parent training, often referred to as parent management training (PMT), is an evidence-based approach referring to a suite of interventions designed to address youth behavioral health concerns. These programs are built on the principles that training parents in the delivery of effective behavior management strategies results in more sustainable change for the family; given that parents/caregivers have more frequent interaction with youth, they can access higher-order cognitive functions and have more direct control over contingencies in the environment. Initially developed to address disruptive behaviors for youth (eg, parent-child interaction therapy), these programs were recently expanded to address a wider array of childhood concerns, including anxiety (eg, Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions [SPACE] program). While billed under separate titles, these interventions largely espouse similar intervention strategies. Mounting evidence supports the use of PMT as a transdiagnostic approach to intervention for childhood behavioral health concerns. The presenter will review the existing evidence regarding PMT strategies across diagnostic categories (eg, disruptive behavior, anxiety, irritability), including a discussion of real-life circumstances that affect the implementation of these skills (eg, parental psychopathology, cultural adaptation). Through the discussion of theory and the use of case examples, participants will learn to take a critical, comparative consideration of the common elements of these various programs, the practical application of the principal skills involved, and relative differences with the other types of parent support presented. Behavioral parent support represents an evidence-based approach to addressing common behavioral health concerns for youth. Limits to the existing evidence base, barriers to implementation, and efforts to augment treatment response, given the acknowledged gaps in effectiveness in addressing needs of high-risk families, will also be discussed.