Behavioral Parent Training in Home and Community Generalization Settings

The generalization of behavioral parenting skills from one home setting to additional home and community settings was investigated. Three mother-child dyads were studied in home and community settings, including a grocery store, a shopping mall, and at church. Mothers were taught two types of behavioral parent training: child management techniques and planned activities techniques. They were provided with repeated in-home coaching in the training setting and written prompts to use in the generalization settings. Two of the mothers were able to consistently utilize the techniques in the generalization settings. A third parent required brief in situ training in each generalization setting. The findings suggest that parents can accurately apply these behavioral parent training techniques in generalization settings. The amount and location of training needs to be individualized to meet the unique learning requirements of different parents. The findings also suggest that accurate use of the procedures by parents is associated with enhancement of their perceived child management efficacy. Qualified support is obtained for the utility of this procedure to reduce child disruptive behavior in generalization settings.