Effective Treatments for Children's Disruptive Disorders

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Numerous psychosocial treatments have been empirically demonstrated to reduce disruptive, attention, and other externalizing disorders in children and adolescents. However, a gap exists between clinical research and practice, such that empirically supported treatments (ESTs) are rarely implemented in clinical settings. This gap undermines the positive impact psychotherapy can have in childhood, and may ultimately reduce the value society places on psychotherapy. One obstacle contributing to this situation is the difficulty practitioners have in identifying effective treatments and obtaining the material necessary to use them in their practices. Our main goal is to create an archive or collection of psychotherapy treatment programs for which scientific evidence of effectiveness exists when implemented with school age children and adolescents. The Children's Disruptive and Attention Disorders Effective Treatment Archive (CDADETA) will consist of complete replication kits of all necessary materials for implementation in practice settings (e.g., manual, workbook, training material, instruments). To ensure that this program archive is used by practitioners for the selection of appropriate treatment programs and their successful replication and evaluation, several additional innovative products will be developed. The aim of the proposed Phase I project is to test the feasibility of this product development plan. More specifically, we will address the following questions: (1) Can a set of criteria be developed that can be reliably applied by experts in the selection of treatment programs to be included in the CDADETA; (2) Can an adequate set of exemplary treatment programs be identified that have empirical support and meet the selection criteria; (3) Can permission be obtained to acquire, upgrade, market, and disseminate treatment manuals and ancillary material from the developer(s) of the selected treatment programs; (4) Can original treatment program material be enhanced to be useable in the practice community and commercially viable; and (5) Can additional resources be specified and their content detailed that will facilitate the (a) selection, (b) evaluation and scientific advancement of psychosocial treatment programs, and (c) the education of mental health practitioners about ESTs? Sociometrics has been a pioneer in bridging the "science-to- practice" gap through its innovative archiving and dissemination of effective programs to practitioners and brings a wealth of experience and expertise to this endeavor. The market for these products is substantial with over 412,000 mental health professionals and about 2.6-5.3 million children and adolescents with disruptive and attention problems.