Parent-therapist alliance and technology use in behavioral parent training: A brief report

Researchers propose that technology has the capacity to promote therapeutic alliance; however, clinicians worry the opposite is true. Behavioral parent training (BPT), an approach that is reliant on the parent as the mechanism of change, is the standard of care for early-onset (3-8 years old) behavior disorders. Importantly, behavior disorders are among the most common reasons parents seek mental health services for their children; therefore, BPT affords an ideal context within which to better understand the potential interrelationship between technology and therapeutic alliance. To this end, this study examined the link between smartphone-enhancements to 1 BPT program and parent-therapist alliance in 9 families of children with early-onset behavior disorders. Findings suggest relative differences in patterns of alliance and use of the smartphone-enhancements within the technology-enhanced group, patterns that have implications for better understanding the impact of technology on the therapeutic process, the deployment of existing technology-enhanced services, and the development of future technology-enhanced services. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).