Psychology Research and Behavior Management (Jan 2020)
Personalizing Behavioral Parent Training Interventions to Improve Treatment Engagement and Outcomes for Culturally Diverse Families
Abstract
Kristen M McCabe, 1,2 May Yeh, 2–4 Argero A Zerr 1,5 1Department of Psychological Sciences, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA; 2Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, San Diego, CA, USA; 3Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA; 4Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA; 5Department of Psychology, California State University Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA, USACorrespondence: Kristen M McCabeDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of San Diego, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110, USATel +1 619 260 4001Email [email protected]: Behavioral Parent Training (BPT) interventions are efficacious for young children with externalizing behavior problems. However, not all families benefit, and ethnic minority families in particular are less likely to enroll, engage, and improve in BPT. Versions of BPT interventions tailored for specific ethnic groups have been successful at improving engagement and outcomes for ethnic minorities; however, the specificity of these models presents challenges for broad dissemination. This article presents a personalization approach (PersIn) that utilizes cultural assessment results to tailor treatment protocols to the characteristics of individual families. We believe this approach has the potential to maximize cultural sensitivity while preserving generalizability to both minority and non-minority ethnic groups. We further propose that personalization on Parent Explanatory Model (PEM) parameters that have been found to vary across ethnic groups and to impact treatment engagement and/or outcomes is a promising approach to decreasing disparities in BPTs. We describe examples of evidence-supported PEMs that present good targets for personalization and provide examples from MY PCIT to illustrate how PersIn can be applied to Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT).Keywords: Behavioral Parent Training, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, culture, personalization, disruptive behavior disorders
