Parent–Child Interaction Therapy Essay ⋆ Criminal Justice Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) is a short-term form of parent training that focuses on teaching parents specific child management skills so as to alter negative interactions between them and their children for the better. PCIT has been widely tested and is considered an empirically supported intervention. Little research has been conducted specifically with children exposed to domestic violence and their parents.

PCIT is generally provided in clinical settings to individual parent–child dyads with young children, most often between 2 and 6 or 7 years of age. Changes in parent–child interactions are expected to create change in child behavior. Chaffin and his colleagues have recently reported a study that provided PCIT to physically abusive parents and their children. According to Chaffin and his colleagues, PCIT is most often delivered in two phases: work on strengthening child directed interactions followed by strengthening parent directed interactions. Each of the two phases starts with a didactic session followed by five or six parent–child dyadic sessions in the presence of a therapist acting as a coach. In the child directed phase, emphasis is on promoting positive child–parent interactions. In the parent directed phase, emphasis is on parent management of child conduct.

Chaffin and his colleagues have added several components to the standard PCIT model. First, all parents attend a motivation enhancement module before beginning PCIT and participate in a third phase consisting of a four-session group program that helps parents implement what they learn earlier in PCIT. Finally, some parents receive enhanced individualized services focused on parental substance abuse, depression, and family problems including domestic violence. Enhanced individualized services include home visits.

In their study of 110 physically abusive parents, Chaffin and his colleagues found that 19% of the parent–child dyads receiving PCIT had subsequent reports of physical abuse compared to 49% among a comparison group randomly assigned to receive standard services. Those randomly assigned to receive PCIT plus enhanced services showed no additional gains over the traditional PCIT approach.

Bibliography:

Chaffin, M., Silovsky, J. F., Funderburk, B., Valle, L. A., Brestan, E. V., Balachova, T., et al. (2004). Parent-child interaction therapy with physically abusive parents: Efficacy for reducing future abuse reports. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 500–510.
Herschell, A., Calzada, E., Eyberg, S. M., & McNeil, C. B. (2002). Parent-child interaction therapy: New directions in research. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 9, 9–16. Available at http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.529.7651&rep=rep1&type=pdf
University of Florida Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: http://www.pcit.org/

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