Tailoring of evidence-based group intervention with children with disruptive behavior: Implications for therapists and researchers

Abstract

The evidence-bas for cognitive-behavioral child interventions has continued to advance in the past several decades across many areas of psychopathology, including disruptive behavior problems. We know quite a bit about what works. However, despite earlier research efforts (e.g., Copeland & Hammel, 1981; Lochman, Lampron, Burch, & Curry, 1985; Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2002), we are still in early stages of understanding “what works for whom.” Efforts to explore moderators of established interventions, rather than merely efficacy (La Greca, Silverman, & Lochman, 2009), can progressively help to identify how we can tailor interventions for different children, and tailor training for therapists. One example occurs in research efforts to clarify whether group-based interventions might have iatrogenic effects with some children with disruptive behavior problems.