Parenting Through Change (PTC; GenerationPMTO Group)
Problems addressed
Externalizing behaviors/problems
Low parental skills
Internalizing behaviors/problems
Juvenile delinquency
Socioeconomic vulnerability
Child abuse, neglect, and/or maltreatment
Effectiveness

Effective

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Effective

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Life periods served
Children (4 to 13 years)
Teenagers (14 to 17 years)
Adults (18 to 59 years)
Where the program was applied
Education establishment
Community (streets or community centers)
Country of application
United States
Norway
Description

This is a parental training group intervention for parents with children from 2 to 18 years old with behavioral problems, conduct disorders, oppositional defiant disorder, depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, psychoactive substance use, involvement in crime, and poor school performance. The objective is to strengthen parenting skills and the bond between parents and children, and to reduce and prevent inappropriate and problematic behaviors among children.
The program consists of weekly group sessions that address the development of problem-solving skills, emotional self-regulation, and effective practices, such as objective and reinforcing communication, and increased involvement in school. Group facilitators use interactive teaching strategies, such as roleplaying and experiential activities, to foster practicing the lessons learned. The intervention is structured in weekly meetings and lasts from two and a half to four months.

Impact evaluations

Impact evaluation studies showed reductions in mothers’ use of negative reinforcement and negative reciprocity [1]; stable outcome trajectories 12, 18, and 30 months after the intervention [2]; reductions in maternal depression, changes in child internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and improved parenting practices [3; 4]; and reductions in teacher-reported delinquency and in the frequency of police arrests [5] [6].
New findings after the nine-year follow-up period of the program show that mothers gained benefits in terms of quality of life (e.g., income, occupation, education, and financial stress) and a drop in the frequency of police arrests. The results suggest that the program reduces the level of coercion, thereby improving positive social interactions [7].
The latter study reinforced the reduction in rigid maternal discipline and an increase in positive parenting. Both reduced rigid discipline and increased positive parenting functioned as mediators to reduce children’s behavioral problems [8].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Forgatch, M. S., & DeGarmo, D. S. (1999). Parenting through change: An effective prevention program for single mothers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 711-724

[2] Martinez, C. R., Jr., & Forgatch, M. S. (2001). Preventing problems with boys' noncompliance: Effects of a parent training intervention for divorcing mothers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69, 416-428.

[3] DeGarmo, D. S., Patterson, G. R., & Forgatch, M. S. (2004). How do outcomes in a specified parent training intervention maintain or wane overtime? Prevention Science, 5(2), 73–89.

[4] Patterson, G. R., DeGarmo, D., & Forgatch, M. S. (2004). Systematic changes in families following prevention trials. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32(6), 621–633.

[5] Forgatch, M. S., Patterson, G. R., DeGarmo, D. S., & Beldavs, Z. G. (2009). Testing the Oregon delinquency model with 9-year follow-up of the Oregon Divorce Study. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 637–660.

[6] Patterson, G. R., Forgatch, M. S., & DeGarmo, D. S. (2010). Cascading effects following intervention. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 949-970.

[7] Bjørknes, R., Kjøbli, J., Manger, T., & Jakobsen, R. (2012). Parent training among ethnic minorities: Parenting practices as mediators of change in child conduct problems. Family Relations: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies, 61, 10

[8] Kjøbli, J., Hukkelberg, S., & Ogden, T. (2013). A randomized trial of group parent training: Reducing child conduct problems in real-world settings. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 51, 113–121.

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