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The effects of the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program on preschool children with co-occurring disruptive behavior
William Bor1, Matthew R Sanders, Carol Markie-Dadds
1South Brisbane Child and Youth Mental Health Service, Brisbane, Australia.
Insights
Both standard and enhanced Triple P behavioral family interventions significantly reduced disruptive behavior and attentional difficulties in preschoolers. Gains were maintained long-term, with no significant difference between the two program variants.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Behavioral Interventions
- Developmental Disorders
Background:
- Preschoolers often exhibit co-occurring disruptive behavior and attentional/hyperactive difficulties.
- Behavioral family interventions (BFI) show promise in addressing these challenges.
- Triple P is a widely used BFI with various program levels.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the efficacy of an enhanced BFI (EBFI) against a standard BFI (SBFI) in preschoolers with disruptive and attentional issues.
- To assess the impact of these interventions on child behavior, parenting practices, and parental competence.
- To evaluate the long-term maintenance of intervention effects.
Main Methods:
- Randomized controlled trial involving 87 preschoolers with co-occurring behavioral and attentional difficulties.
- Families were assigned to either EBFI, SBFI, or a waitlist (WL) control group.
- Outcomes assessed included parent-reported child behavior problems, observed child behavior, parenting styles, and parental competence at postintervention and 1-year follow-up.
Main Results:
- Both EBFI and SBFI significantly reduced parent-reported child behavior problems and dysfunctional parenting, while increasing parental competence compared to WL.
- EBFI showed significantly less observed child negative behavior than WL.
- No significant differences in efficacy were found between EBFI and SBFI across outcome measures.
- 80% of children demonstrated clinically reliable improvement in observed negative behavior from preintervention to follow-up.
Conclusions:
- Both standard and enhanced Triple P behavioral family interventions are effective in managing disruptive behavior and attentional/hyperactive difficulties in preschoolers.
- The observed benefits are maintained at 1-year follow-up.
- The enhanced program did not demonstrate superiority over the standard program, suggesting the standard version is also highly effective.
Abstract:
Two variants of a behavioral family intervention (BFI) program known as Triple P were compared using 87 preschoolers with co-occurring disruptive behavior and attentional/hyperactive difficulties. Families were randomly allocated to enhanced BFI (EBFI), standard BFI (SBFI), or a waitlist (WL) control group. At postintervention both BFI programs were associated with significantly lower levels of parent-reported child behavior problems, lower levels of dysfunctional parenting, and greater parental competence than the WL condition. The EBFI condition was also associated with significantly less observed child negative behavior in comparison to the WL. The gains achieved at postintervention were maintained at 1-year follow-up. Contrary to predictions, the enhanced program was not shown to be superior to the standard program using any of the outcome measures at either postintervention or follow-up. Each of the programs produced significant reductions in children's co-occurring disruptive behavior and attentional/hyperactive difficulties with 80% of the children showing clinically reliable improvement in observed negative behavior from preintervention to follow-up.