TY - JOUR
T1 - The short- and longer-term effects of brief behavioral parent training versus care as usual in children with behavioral difficulties
T2 - study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
AU - van Doornik, Roos S.
AU - van der Oord, Saskia
AU - Luijckx, Joli
AU - Groenman, Annabeth P.
AU - Leijten, Patty
AU - Luman, Marjolein
AU - Hoekstra, Pieter J.
AU - van den Hoofdakker, Barbara J.
AU - Dekkers, Tycho J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024/12
Y1 - 2024/12
N2 - Background: The access to and uptake of evidence-based behavioral parent training for children with behavioral difficulties (i.e., oppositional, defiant, aggressive, hyperactive, impulsive, and inattentive behavior) are currently limited because of a scarcity of certified therapists and long waiting lists. These problems are in part due to the long and sometimes perceived as rigid nature of most evidence-based programs and result in few families starting behavioral parent training and high dropout rates. Brief and individually tailored parenting interventions may reduce these problems and make behavioral parent training more accessible. This protocol paper describes a two-arm, multi-center, randomized controlled trial on the short- and longer-term effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a brief, individually tailored behavioral parent training program for children with behavioral difficulties.Methods: Parents of children aged 2–12 years referred to a child mental healthcare center are randomized to (i) three sessions of behavioral parent training with optional booster sessions or (ii) care as usual. To evaluate effectiveness, our primary outcome is the mean severity of five daily ratings by parents of four selected behavioral difficulties. Secondary outcomes include measures of parent and child behavior, well-being, and parent–child interaction. We explore whether child and parent characteristics moderate intervention effects. To evaluate cost-effectiveness, the use and costs of mental healthcare and utilities are measured. Finally, parents’ and therapists’ satisfaction with the brief program are explored. Measurements take place at baseline (T0), one week after the brief parent training, or eight weeks after baseline (in case of care as usual) (T1), and six months (T2) and twelve months (T3) after T1.Discussion: The results of this trial could have meaningful societal implications for children with behavioral difficulties and their parents. If we find the brief behavioral parent training to be more (cost-)effective than care as usual, it could be used in clinical practice to make parent training more accessible.Trial registration: The trial is prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05591820) on October 24th, 2022 and updated throughout the trial.
AB - Background: The access to and uptake of evidence-based behavioral parent training for children with behavioral difficulties (i.e., oppositional, defiant, aggressive, hyperactive, impulsive, and inattentive behavior) are currently limited because of a scarcity of certified therapists and long waiting lists. These problems are in part due to the long and sometimes perceived as rigid nature of most evidence-based programs and result in few families starting behavioral parent training and high dropout rates. Brief and individually tailored parenting interventions may reduce these problems and make behavioral parent training more accessible. This protocol paper describes a two-arm, multi-center, randomized controlled trial on the short- and longer-term effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a brief, individually tailored behavioral parent training program for children with behavioral difficulties.Methods: Parents of children aged 2–12 years referred to a child mental healthcare center are randomized to (i) three sessions of behavioral parent training with optional booster sessions or (ii) care as usual. To evaluate effectiveness, our primary outcome is the mean severity of five daily ratings by parents of four selected behavioral difficulties. Secondary outcomes include measures of parent and child behavior, well-being, and parent–child interaction. We explore whether child and parent characteristics moderate intervention effects. To evaluate cost-effectiveness, the use and costs of mental healthcare and utilities are measured. Finally, parents’ and therapists’ satisfaction with the brief program are explored. Measurements take place at baseline (T0), one week after the brief parent training, or eight weeks after baseline (in case of care as usual) (T1), and six months (T2) and twelve months (T3) after T1.Discussion: The results of this trial could have meaningful societal implications for children with behavioral difficulties and their parents. If we find the brief behavioral parent training to be more (cost-)effective than care as usual, it could be used in clinical practice to make parent training more accessible.Trial registration: The trial is prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05591820) on October 24th, 2022 and updated throughout the trial.
KW - Behavioral difficulties
KW - Behavioral parent training
KW - Brief
KW - Children
KW - Cost-effectiveness
KW - Effectiveness
KW - Individually tailored
KW - Parenting
KW - Psychosocial intervention
KW - Randomized controlled trial
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85187801372&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12888-024-05649-8
DO - 10.1186/s12888-024-05649-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 38475768
AN - SCOPUS:85187801372
SN - 1471-244X
VL - 24
JO - BMC Psychiatry
JF - BMC Psychiatry
M1 - 203
ER -