Tuning in to Kids: Clinical Case Studies from One-to-One Delivery

Abstract

Children’s behavior problems are often underpinned by deficits in emotional competence and require intervention to prevent them from escalating into more serious and persistent difficulties. Parenting factors such as poor Parental Reflective Functioning (PRF) and non-supportive emotion socialization practices are negatively related to children’s emotional competence and are modifiable factors that can be targeted in parenting interventions. Tuning in to Kids (TIK) is an emotion-focused group parenting program that teaches parents skills in understanding and regulating their own emotions, and how to respond supportively to their children’s emotion to foster emotional competence. This paper describes a newly adapted one-to-one version of TIK. Using three case studies, this paper illustrates the program’s implementation, challenges, and outcomes for parents and their children with behavior problems. The structure and content of this adapted format of TIK is outlined, and each parent’s progression through the program including changes to their meta-emotion beliefs, emotion socialization practices, and PRF are discussed. Recommendations are provided to assist facilitators with delivering TIK in the one-to-one setting.