Parents' Ratings of the Acceptability of Behavioral Treatment Recommendations Made in an Outpatient Clinic: A Preliminary Analysis of the Influence of Treatment Effectiveness

Ratings of acceptability were obtained from 20 parents who came to a behavior management outpatient clinic for assistance with their children's behavior problems. Ratings of treatment acceptability were obtained both before and after a behavioral treatment recommendation was proposed to assess the relationship between acceptability and outcomes of the proposed recommendations. Results indicated that those composites which were significantly related to acceptability initially (disruption and willingness) were shown to have less of an impact on acceptability once the treatment had been attempted. Instead, parental ratings of the effectiveness of the treatment had the largest influence on acceptability. The need to replicate these findings in other settings with a larger population is warranted based on these results.