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Published on: July 31, 2017
Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) with families of children with autism spectrum disorder
Sarah F Vess1, Jonathan M Campbell2
1Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics, Brenner Children's Hospital, Wake Forest School of Medicine Winston Salem, NC, USA.
Insights
Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) effectively improved parenting and child behavior in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This evidence-based program enhanced parent-child relationships and child compliance, showing lasting positive effects.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Behavioral Therapy
Background:
- Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based program for preschoolers with behavioral issues.
- Previous studies showed promise using PCIT components for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
- This study is the first to apply the full, unmodified PCIT protocol to preschoolers with ASD without other behavioral difficulties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of standard Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) for preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
- To assess the impact of PCIT on parenting behaviors, child compliance, and the parent-child relationship in families with ASD.
Main Methods:
- A single-subject multiple-probe design was used.
- The study involved four families with children diagnosed with ASD, aged 2-4 years.
- Intervention duration was 4 months.
Main Results:
- PCIT increased positive parenting behaviors and child compliance while decreasing negative parenting behaviors.
- Parents reported increased confidence, improvements in autism symptomatology, and enhanced parent-child relationships.
- Improvements in parenting and child compliance were maintained 1 month post-treatment and in generalization settings.
Conclusions:
- Standard PCIT is effective for improving parenting and child behavior in preschoolers with ASD.
- The intervention positively impacted the parent-child relationship and child's social and behavioral functioning.
- Parents reported high satisfaction with PCIT, supporting its use with this population.
Background And Aims:
Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based behavioral parent training program designed for preschool-age children that emphasizes supporting parent-child interaction patterns to improve child behavior and enhance the quality of parent-child relationships. PCIT has been deemed efficacious in treating children with disruptive behavior disorders, and recent studies have shown promising results utilizing aspects of PCIT with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but none of these studies applied the entire PCIT intervention per manual protocol. The present study is the first to test the efficacy of PCIT, without modification, with families of preschool-age children with ASD without comorbid behavioral difficulties.
Methods:
This study employed a single-subject multiple-probe design to evaluate the efficacy of PCIT with four families with children with ASD between the ages of 2 and 4 years old (M = 40 months) over a 4-month period.
Results:
PCIT was effective in increasing positive parenting behavior, decreasing negative parenting behavior, and increasing child compliance to parental commands. Parents reported greater confidence in parenting abilities post-treatment and significant improvement in the core areas of autism symptomatology. Parents endorsed significant improvement in aspects of the parent-child relationship, such as attachment and involvement.
Conclusions:
Parents of children with ASD demonstrated more positive and effective parenting behavior and reported enhancements in the parent-child relationship after participating in PCIT. Children were more compliant to parental commands and exhibited improvements in social and behavioral functioning. Increases in positive parenting behaviors and child compliance to parental requests were maintained 1 month after treatment and outside the clinic setting during generalization sessions. Parents of children with ASD reported a high degree of satisfaction with PCIT.
Implications:
The present study provides initial evidence of the efficacy of utilizing PCIT with families of preschool-age children with ASD and supports the continued investigation of the efficacy of PCIT with this population.
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