Concurrent parent and child therapy groups for externalizing disorders: The rural replication

Abstract

For the treatment of disruptive behavior disorders, parent training and child social skills training have established efficacy in research settings. But in community settings, these approaches are not often systematically implemented. In a hospital-affiliated psychology practice located in a rural community, parent and child group programs were set up to be the standard initial treatment for these disorders for children ages 5 to 12 years. Using the Eyberg Checklist for pre and post measures, 51 patients who completed treatment showed an average treatment effectiveness of 1.00 standard deviation, which is comparable to outcome data from an earlier study in which the same program had been instituted in a suburban setting ( Tynan, Schuman, & Lampert, 1999 ).