Evaluating Dissemination and Implementation Efforts in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy

Abstract

With a push for evidence-based practice in psychology (EBPP), dissemination to community mental health care providers has been occurring. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is one type of EBPP that is currently being trained across the United States and internationally; however, there is little research reporting on these efforts and no research has reported any implementation outcomes for trainees. This study evaluated dissemination efforts to 31 trainees across 4 different training times. Self-report and objective data revealed that trainees gained knowledge of the core principles of PCIT during a 40-hour workshop. Furthermore, they felt competent and comfortable to use PCIT effectively after completing the 40-hour workshop. Of the 31 trainees, 16 have completed, coded, and successfully video-recorded a behavioral observation between a caregiver-child dyad. No variables significantly predicted percent reliability scores in coding the behavioral observations; however, several variables together predicted a large amount of variance in the reliability scores. Limitations of this study and future directions for research are discussed in relation to PCIT dissemination and implementation training.