None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a new treatment for disruptive children with callous-unemotional traits. The treatment is called 'Emotional Engagement' Treatment, and focuses on the affective dimension of parent-child relations. It has been created specifically to boost warmth in parent-child relationships, and remediate deficits in eye contact by enhancing the salience of the eyes for high CU children. The aims of the treatment are twofold – to increase parental warmth and to increase the child’s attention to parental warmth. It is believed that improvements in these areas will translate to reductions in disruptive and antisocial behavior. It is hypothesised that following treatment: 1. Children will show lower levels of disruptive behaviour 2. Children will show higher levels of eye contact 3. There will be higher levels of parental warmth
Interventions
Emotional Engagement (EE) Treatment: EE treatment focuses on the affective dimension of parent-child relations, and is designed to be administered as a brief adjunct to best practice interventions for disruptive children (e.g., Behavioral Family Intervention). It has been created specifically to boost warmth in parent-child relationships, and remediate deficits in eye contact by enhancing the salience of the eyes for high CU children. The treatment involves parents engaging in simple love int
Emotional Engagement (EE) Treatment: EE treatment focuses on the affective dimension of parent-child relations, and is designed to be administered as a brief adjunct to best practice interventions for disruptive children (e.g., Behavioral Family Intervention). It has been created specifically to boost warmth in parent-child relationships, and remediate deficits in eye contact by enhancing the salience of the eyes for high CU children. The treatment involves parents engaging in simple love interactions with their children. Specifically, parents will gently look into their child’s eyes, help the child to return their gaze, and tell the child that they love them. Each interaction is recorded, and reviewed with a therapist such that parents can discuss their experience, and set goals for improvement. Parents are also required to practice Emotional Engagement exercises with the child every day, and are provided with a list of activities they can use at home. Behavioural Family Intervention Program - The ‘Integrated Family Intervention for Child Conduct Problems’ (Dadds & Hawes, 2006) program will be administered. It focuses on managing child aggression, non-compliance and disruptive behaviour. It aims to modify unhealthy parenting practices by targeting negative reinforcement contingencies operating in the family. Parents are taught to encourage good behaviour by giving positive reinforcement and rewards, and discourage bad behaviour through the provision of consistent, emotionally neutral punishment. The program consists of other modules (parental mental health, marital adjustment, family communication) which can be administered if needed. The program is administered by a clinical psychologist to one or both parents/primary caregivers. Duration: The EE treatment will be administered in conjuction with a Behavioural Family Intervention (BFI Program. The BFI program is conducted over six weekly 1.5 hour sessions. Each EE session will take place directly after each BFI session. EE sessions will take approximately 15 minutes.
Sponsors
Professor Mark Dadds
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
3 Years to 8 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion Criteria for children: 1. Primary DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of ODD or CD 2. Scores above the 80th percentile on the conduct problems scale of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 1997). 3. Callous-unemotional traits, as assessed by the UNSW system (Dadds, et al., 2005), which combines scores on the Antisocial Process Screening Device (ASPD; Frick & Hare, 2001) and the SDQ. 4. Fluency in English Inclusion Criteria for Parent(s)/Caregivers: 1. Fluency in English
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion Criteria for Children: 1. Current diagnosis of a psychotic disorder 2. Primary autism 3. Developmental delay (estimated at IQ < 80) 4. Major medical disorder that has significantly interfered with family or school life. There are no exclusion criteria for parent(s)/caregivers.
Outcome results
None listed