Parent Management Training for Child Conduct Disorder: an eCourse for Clinicians

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Vida Health Communications, Inc. (Vida) will produce and evaluate one module of Parent Management Training for Child Conduct Disorder: an eCourse for Clinicians, an e-learning course to introduce and demonstrate well proven therapeutic techniques to child mental health providers who treat children with Conduct Disorder (CD). Parent Management Training (PMT), created by Alan Kazdin, PhD., is included in SAMSHA's National Registry of Evidence-based Practices and Programs. Drawing on the advantages of the Internet and case study approaches to mental health training, the course will make extensive use of media - featuring (a) video vignettes drawn from real interactions at the Yale Parenting Center and Child Conduct Clinic, and (b) video case studies, which Vida will produce - to provide the focal points for training, and demonstrate recommended therapist-parent interactions which have been shown to help parents modify the behavior of children with CD. There are four specific aims of Phase I: 1) Establish the content and instructional design for a prototype module; 2) Produce the prototype; 3) Assess the prototype; and 4) Plan the Phase II evaluation. The overall goal of Phase I is to find the most appropriate way to translate the PMT training program from a workshop model to an effective e-learning course. Phase I will yield a prototype module that has been tested for usability with child mental health practitioners. A Phase II award will fund the development of the full eCourse and an evaluation with a rigorous design. The final product of this SBIR will be a state-of-the-science multi-media training program for mental health professionals helping children with CD. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: In contemporary psychiatric diagnosis, aggressive and antisocial behavior in children that is clinically severe and associated with impaired functioning is referred to as Conduct Disorder (CD). CD affects between 1.4 - 4.2 million children in the US and affected children typically traverse multiple social services - special education, mental health, juvenile justice, and social services and later, adult criminal justice systems. Consequently, CD is among the most costly mental health problems in the United States. The product of this research will be an e-learning course that trains child mental health providers to effectively utilize the well-proven Parent Management Training method developed by Alan Kazdin, PhD, director of the Yale Parenting Center and Child Conduct Clinic.