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Supporting positive parent-toddler relationships and reducing toddler tantrums: Evaluation of PCAT-E
Abstract
At the most fundamental level, a positive parent-child relationship is the foundation of child success. However, the toddler period may present difficulties for the parent-child relationship. As toddlers explore their autonomy, they challenge parents with noncompliance and temper tantrums, which may be difficult for the parent-child relationship. This study examined the impact of an extension of Parent-Child Attunement Therapy (Parent Child Attunement Therapy – Enhanced; PCAT-E) on parenting behaviors, toddler tantrum behaviors, and the parent-toddler relationship. This extension featured eight individual didactic and coaching sessions with parent-child dyads focused on teaching positive parenting skills, effective commands, and emotion language modeling. Participants were four parent-toddler dyads. Dyads participated in therapy sessions wherein parents were coached by the therapist in the use of nondirective play therapy and operant conditioning strategies with their toddler. Parenting behaviors were assessed through coded video of play sessions using the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction System-III (DPICS-III; Eyberg, Nelson, Duke, & Boggs, 2005). Toddler tantrums behaviors were tracked via daily parent report, and the parent-toddler relationship was assessed using the Parenting Relationship Questionnaire (PRQ; Kamphaus & Reynolds, 2006). A concurrent multiple probe across participants design was used to evaluate the effect of the intervention on parenting behaviors. A within participants design was used to evaluate the effect on toddler tantrum behaviors, and changes in the parent-toddler relationship were evaluated using clinical significance. Data were analyzed through visual inspection, conservative dual criterion, calculation of percentage of all nonoverlapping data, and determination of clinical significance. Results of the study indicated improvements in four parenting behaviors (i.e., labeled praise, behavioral description, questions, and commands), mixed results for toddler tantrums but improvements in broad toddler behaviors, and improvements in the parent-toddler relationship. Treatment integrity data suggested parent treatment integrity was generally high. Social validity data suggested high levels of perceived effectiveness and acceptability of the PCAT-E intervention. Overall, the results of the study extended the literature on Parent-Child Attunement Therapy, a promising intervention to address parent-toddler relationships and externalizing toddler behaviors.
Subject Area
Early childhood education|Educational psychology|Developmental psychology|Clinical psychology|Individual & family studies
Recommended Citation
Sjuts, Tara M, "Supporting positive parent-toddler relationships and reducing toddler tantrums: Evaluation of PCAT-E" (2014). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI3632257.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI3632257