The parenting check-up (PCU) : linking assessment to intervention : a brief individualized intervention for adoptive foster families to promote effective parenting practices

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The Parenting Check-up (PCU) was developed as a parent consultation model that addressed the need for individual adoptive foster families. The PCU connects assessment and intervention by identifying strengths and areas of growth in parenting practices within families. The PCU is based on the premises of the Family Check-up model (FCU) (Dishion& Kavanagh, 2003), which is a brief family intervention that emphasizes motivation to change in families and utilizes Motivational Interviewing (MI) strategies (see Miller &Rollnick, 2002). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the combined effects of the PCU and individualized IY parent training on adoptive foster parents and adopted foster children behavior. The study focused on changes in parenting practices that are linked to reduction in externalizing behavior problems in children. Results indicated that implementation of the PCU with tailored Incredible Years parent training program increased parent implementation of positive parenting practices, especially, total use of praise, use of behavior specific praise, use of clear commands and ignoring. Further, these changes in parent behavior contributed to positive change in children behavior, in particular increase rate of compliance and overall decrease in externalizing behavior problems. The findings reported expand the literature base on parent consultation. The results are promising because they suggest that collaborative action planning can make parents active therapeutic agents at home, thus leading to change in the areas of need.