Conduct Disorder: Intervention and Prevention

Abstract

Children and young people who present with disruptive behaviour have challenged health, education, social, religious and legal professionals for centuries. Across the ages, the question of how to conceptualise disruptive behaviour has been debated, as has that of who should be responsible for doing something about it. In the 21st century disruptive behaviour is classified in medical taxonomies as conduct disorder (CD) and there is a vast and ever-increasing evidence base describing causative factors and associations together with diverse intervention programmes. The evidence consistently highlights the fact that CD is heterogeneous, with multi-factorial causation, and that in order to be effective intervention must target multiple domains of risk. This of necessity requires that the various agencies involved with disruptive children work collaboratively. This article presents an overview of CD and highlights effective intervention and prevention strategies.