Can Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) Remain Effective Where Parents Have A Mental Health Issue? An Audit of A Case Series in A Community Setting

Abstract

ABSTRACTParent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based manualised parent training programme for parents of two to seven year old children with conduct problems and/or other complex needs that features in vivo (“live”) skills coaching of parents, with immediate feedback from a clinician through a discrete ear piece and one-way mirror.This paper describes a clinical audit of a series of 35 families seen for PCIT in a community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in New Zealand. The cohort was distinct from the extant PCIT literature in three ways – it included a disproportionately high rate of parental mental health issues, of children aged seven years or over, and it featured a relatively low attrition rate – a notoriously challenging area for parent training approaches.Results indicated that despite the majority of mothers (74%) in the case series having a formal psychiatric diagnosis, and having previously unsuccessfully undertaken at least one parenting intervention (71%), average duration of treatment (17 sessions, range: 9–25) was within established international norms (12–20 sessions). The attrition rate (26%) was lower than is typical internationally for parent training approaches. There was a positive correlation between a child’s age and the number of sessions to graduation, albeit not statistically significant in this small study (r = 0.34, p = .10).With minimal modification, PCIT remained an effective treatment in a real world setting for parents with mental health issues and their young children. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.