Date of Award:

8-2015

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Educational Specialist (EdS)

Department:

Psychology

Committee Chair(s)

Gretchen G. Peacock

Committee

Gretchen G. Peacock

Committee

Renée V. Galliher

Committee

Scott C. Bates

Abstract

Parent training is an effective intervention for parents of children with a variety of childhood disorders, and parents often view behavioral parent training as acceptable. Explanations and rationales for parent training are commonly provided at the beginning of treatment. However, there is little research regarding how rationales may influence acceptability. There is also limited information on whether fathers and mothers judge the acceptability of parent training differently. The purpose of this study was to determine whether changing the description of a behavioral parenting intervention influenced parents’ acceptability ratings and whether mothers and fathers differed in their ratings.

Participants viewed one of two descriptions of parent training that focused on either addressing deficits in parenting skills or enhancing existing parenting skills. The results indicated that there was not a significant difference in the acceptability of the two parent training descriptions. However, mothers rated both treatment descriptions as more acceptable than did fathers. Results also indicated that parents’ beliefs about their influence as parents significantly predicted acceptability of the parent training descriptions. The results of the current study suggested that treatment acceptability was not influenced by the way that the interventions were described. Future research should focus on how to increase acceptability of parent training for fathers and parents who do not feel that they have control and influence over their children.

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04200de67139dcd9d7e54066a7e62b09

Included in

Psychology Commons

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