Functional Assessment Based Parent Intervention in Reducing Children's Challenging Behaviors: Exploratory Study of Group Training

This study examined the effects of group parent training on children’s challenging behaviors in home settings. Eight parents of young children with challenging behaviors were trained in a large group setting on using functional assessment to design interventions that fit the strengths and needs of individual families. The training included information sharing and collaborating with parents on designing functional-assessment based interventions. An Interrupted Time Series Design was used to examine the effects of large group training by comparing parent and child behaviors prior to intervention with behaviors after the intervention. Data were analyzed using Repeated Measures ANOVA. The results indicated that group training increased parents’ ability to implement functional assessment based strategies and these strategies resulted in a significant reduction in children’s challenging behaviors. Furthermore, parent implementation of functional assessment based strategies and children’s decreased levels of challenging behaviors were maintained after the completion of the intervention.