Is Parent Behavioral Change Contingent on Parent Coach Commenting in the ABC Intervention?: Preliminary Resutls
Date
2015-05
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University of Delaware
Abstract
Foster children in the United States are vulnerable to psychological,
physiological, and behavioral problems (Dozier, et al., 2006; Thompson & Calkins,
1996). The Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch- up (ABC) intervention was
designed to address these problems proactively in at-risk children. The short-term
intervention targets following the lead, delight, nurturance, and non-frightening parent
behaviors. A unique component of the ABC intervention is its use of parent coach in
vivo feedback, called In the Moment (ITM) comments, to the parent. Parent coaches
give in the moment comments to either encourage or redirect parent behavior to be
positive. In this study, we examined whether parent behavior change is contingent on
ITM comments rather than chance. We explored our hypothesis that parent behavior
change was contingent on ITM comments by using a microanalytic coding system. A
total of 51 parent-child dyads were coded. Results demonstrated that contingent links
existed between in the moment comments regarding delight and subsequent delighted
parent behavior.
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Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES::Social sciences::Psychology