A multicentre controlled study of an early intervention parenting programme for young children with behavioural and developmental difficulties

The aim of the experimental study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a parent training intervention for young children with varied difficulties and to examine the differential effects of the intervention for children with and without a developmental difficulty. A quasi-experimental waitlist design was employed and participants were parents of 81 children aged three- to six-years (M = 53.30 months; SD = 10.80 months) with behavioural and/or developmental difficulties, who received parent training (n = 46) or ‘treatment as usual’ services (n = 35) over a 12-week period. Assessment took place before and immediately following the 12-week intervention for both groups and five-months later for the parent-training group. Significant changes were found, including improvements in parent reports of behaviour problems, parental stress and independently rated observations. Changes in behavioural difficulties were greater for the parenttraining group compared with the treatment as usual group and no differential effects emerged for children with and children without a developmental difficulty. The findings suggest that parent training is equally effective for young children with exclusively behavioural problems and those with associated behavioural and developmental difficulties. This highlights the clinical utility of parent training as a broad tool of intervention for young children referred to frontline mental health settings.