Parent Education for the Treatment of Severe Behaviour Problems in Children with Developmental Disabilities

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/211047

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

Approximately 40% of children with developmental disabilities have severe behaviour problems (e.g., aggression, self-injury, property destruction, and extreme tantrums) (Einfeld and Tonge, 1996). The care of a child with such problems represents a significant burden to parents and society. One of the most promising treatments is functional communication training (FCT), which aims to reduce problem behaviours by improving the child's communication skills. Numerous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of FCT (Mirenda, 1997). Wacker et al. (1998) have shown that parents can be taught to use FCT, but these parents received individual consultations, which would seem to limit its practicality. Preliminary results from our current APEX grant suggest that parents can learn to implement this treatment in a group format, which is more practical from a public health perspective. However, it is currently unknown if group training is as effective as individual consultation. In the present application, we aim to compare these two ways of teaching parents how to use FCT. From a total sample of 36, the parents of 18 children will be randomly assigned to the group training format and 18 to the individual format. All parents will receive 12 hours of training on how to use FCT, either as part of a group of 3 families (mothers and-or fathers) in the clinic or on a one-to-one basis in the family home. Pre, post, and follow-up measures of problem behaviours will be used to address the research question: Is group training as effective as individual consultation? If so, we would have demonstrated a more practical way of teaching parents how to implement this evidence-based treatment for child behaviour problems.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2002

End Date: 01-01-2003

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $116,220.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Care For Disabled

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

behavioural intervention | developmental disabilities | early intervention | improving the quality of life of those with a disability | intellectual disability | parent management strategies | parenting | pre-school children | severe behaviour problems | treatment efficacy

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