Designing and evaluating a web-based parenting intervention Dawn Owen Centre for Evidence Based Early Intervention Supervisors: Professor Judy Hutchings and Dr Nia Griffith

Conduct Disorder “A repetitive and persistent pattern of behaviour in which the basic rights of others, or major age- appropriate societal norms or rules, are violated”, (DSM-IV, 1994) General behaviour problems are the most common reasons why children are referred to Children’s Mental Health Services (Hutchings, Lane & Kelly, 2004) Between 7-20% of children meet the diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder (Webster-Stratton & Hammond, 1998)

Impact of Conduct Disorder 50% of mothers of children referred for treatment for behavioural difficulties show levels of depression within the clinical range (Hutchings, Appleton, Smith, Lane & Nash, 2002) Mothers who suffer from clinical depression exhibit symptoms associated with the development of conduct disorder (Webster-Stratton, 1998) Increased rates of maternal depression also result in significant relationship problems within the family, which in turn can cause or exacerbate child behaviour problems (Hutchings & Nash, 1998)

Parental factors associated with Conduct Disorder Maternal depression Poor parental problem solving & observational skills Socioeconomic status Poverty Single-parent status - divorce Parents reinforcing problem behaviour (Coercive Family Process)

Traditional behavioural intervention pose barriers to treatment… Transportation Dropping out of treatment (attrition) Maintenance of behaviour change Generalisation of skills Sufficient training of healthcare professionals to deliver behaviour-based practice Stigma associated with seeking professional help Increased parental response effort

Advantages of web-based interventions Majority of the population have access to the internet Internet can reach harder-to-reach families Can tailor interventions to suit individual family circumstances More support outside the clinical setting Can practice essential skills in the home environment More than one parent can engage with the intervention Choice of when to participate

The Little Parent Handbook Intervention (Hutchings, 2013) Core behavioural principles A focus on positive parenting Chapters include: Encouraging your child’s positive behaviour, and teaching new behaviours to our children Transfer core behavioural principles into a web-based parenting intervention and evaluate effectiveness Participants will read weekly chapters and complete an online quiz at the end of each chapter Videos and images will be used to supplement the reading material

LifeGuide Software Developed by a Computer Scientist and a Social Psychologist at the University of Southampton Includes many advantageous features such as tailored advice based on individual responses, immediate feedback, reminders, graph production of quiz results and elimination of traditional treatment barriers such as transport (Yang et al., 2009)

What’s next? Revise the LifeGuide Manual and begin transferring the parenting intervention from PowerPoint to LifeGuide Approach Health Visitors for recruitment Complete Bangor University and NHS Research Ethics Complete 2 chapters of my thesis 1.Behavioural interventions for children with Conduct Disorder 2.How the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) are used in web-based behavioural interventions for children with Conduct Disorder

Thank you very much for listening… Any questions?