http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/ The University of Queensland en Fez http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120122 Many parents report that shopping trips with children can be an exhausting and harassing experience. However the ecological features of supermarkets that contribute to disruptive behaviour have not been clearly delineated. A pilot study sought the views of 100 parents and 40 store personnel on the nature of difficulties parents experienced with children on shopping trips to the supermarkets. Subjects were drawn from staff and shoppers in each of four urban supermarkets. Results from a structured interview showed that many parents either experienced problems with their own children (62%) or believed that other parents experienced child management problems (99%). Both parents and store personnel considered demanding and screaming to be the most frequently encountered problem, and over half the parents considered that toy departments were the most disruptive areas. A second study comprised on observational analysis of children’s behaviour in three supermarkets. This study examined whether different areas of the store were associated with differing levels of disruptive behaviour and product disturbance in children. The study also examined the effects of the presence of store personnel, time of day and socioeconomic status on levels of store disruption. Systematic observations of the behaviour of children, parents and store personnel were conducted in each of three observation zones, during the morning and afternoon, in each store. Results showed that highest levels of disruption occurred in areas where attractive merchandise (e.g. toys) were on display, confirming parents impressions and during afternoon shopping trips. The effects of socioeconomic status and the presence of store personnel were non significant. The implications of the results for treatment research aiming to develop advice packages for parents to use in community settings are discussed. 2007-11-29T10:02:22Z Sanders, Matthew R. og Hunter, Allen C. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119994 Three adults with haemophilia participated in a study designed to determine the effectiveness of cognitive- behavioural techniques in the alleviation of chronic arthritic pain. The intervention comprised cognitive- coping skills, primarily relaxation training and guided imagery techniques, as well as identifying and altering antecedents and consequences that may have influenced their pain experience. The dependent measures included visual analogue rating scales, the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory and pedometer readings. All three men showed significant reductions in pain, which were largely maintained at six- month follow- up. This study supports earlier findings with this population, and highlights the importance of monitoring the implementation of independent measures. 2007-11-20T11:18:12Z Dunne, Peter W. og Sanders, Matthew R. og Rowell, John A. og McWhirter, William R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120009 Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy frequently experience anticipatory distress before treatment sessions. Eighty- six cancer patients (ovarian, lymphoma and breast) were assessed to determine the prevalence of anticipatory nausea and vomiting (ANV). Approximately one patient in three reported anticipatory nausea (AN), and of these 6 also experienced anticipatory vomiting (AV). Several patients reported anticipatory anxiety without any sensation of nausea. Clinically the notion of anticipatory distress may be more fruitful so that the problem of pre-treatment anxiety is also addressed. Generally, AN was rated as moderate or worse in severity, occurred fairly consistently, and often began well before arrival at hospital on treatment day. It is suggested that future research should endeavour to link more closely the topography of the problem and the intervention techniques employed, as well as evaluating a broader range of possible interventions. 2007-11-20T14:43:23Z Dunne, Peter W. og Sanders, Matthew R. og Kearsley, John H. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:107706 The aim of this article is to review the factors related to parental engagement with interventions and to describe strategies and implications for improving engagement with parenting interventions. Several policy and practice implications are identified: (1) Poor parental engagement may threaten or compromise the capacity of parenting programmes to deliver valued outcomes; (2) Agencies delivering parenting services need a proactive engagement strategy, which includes strategies to prevent drop-out, as well as strategies to actively respond to parental disengagement; (3) Research is needed to test the efficacy and robustness of different engagement enhancement strategies. 2007-08-27T12:17:55Z Morawska, Alina og Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120150 Twenty maritally distressed couples (DC) and 20 nondistressed couples (NDC) were recruited and asked to undertake 10 minutes of problem-solving discussions, which were videotaped. Each individual partner’s cognitive self-statements during the interaction were assessed using two methods: video-assisted recall (VR) and thought listing (TL). Reported cognitions from each method were content- analysed and classified into five categories: partner- referent positive, partner- referent negative, self-referent positive, self- referent negative, and other. Proportions of reported cognitions falling into each category were analysed in two separate two-way MANOVAs (marital distress/ nondistress x sex) for the VR and TL measures. Results of each MANOVA indicated a highly significant effect of marital distress on cognitions, and a significant effect of sex on the VR but not the TL measure. Discriminant analyses showed that the VR and TL methods both discriminated between DC and NDC groups. Post hoc univariate ANOVAs indicated that DC had significantly higher proportions of negative partner- referent cognitions, and lower proportions of positive partner- referent cognitions, than NDC while problem solving. The relative merits of each cognitive assessment method, and their potential use in increasing marital therapy effectiveness, are discussed. 2007-11-30T09:56:26Z Halford, W. Kim og Matthew R. Sanders http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119973 Issues addressed: Improved parenting competence is recognised as an effective way of improving the health and well-being of children. In order to develop effective parenting policies and programs, information about the attitudes, concerns and child-rearing practices of parents is needed. This survey sought to describe the experience of Queensland parents. Method: Parents with a child under 12 years (n=1218) participated in a random telephone survey that included structured questions about parenting and child behaviour. Results: More than 25 per cent of parents perceived that their eldest child under 12 years had an emotional or behavioural problem in the past 6 months. In general, parents who believed that their eldest child had an emotional or behavioural problem were less confident in their parenting, less satisfied in their relationship with their partner and disciplined their child more frequently than parents who thought their child did not have an emotional or behavioural problem. Only one third of parents who perceived that their child had an emotional or behavioural problem had sought help for their child. Conclusions: A significant number of Queensland parents perceived problems with their child's behaviour or emotional development. Overall, only a small percentage of families participated in a parenting program or sought assistance for their child's behaviour. So what? These findings support the notion that parenting programs should be universally available to help reduce the prevalence of child behaviour problems and assist all families with the task of raising children. 2007-11-16T13:44:48Z Sanders, Matthew R. og Tully, Lucy A. og Baade,. Peter D. og Lynch, Michele E. og Heywood, Alison H. og Pollard, Gayle E. og Youlden, Danny R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119974 The present study examined the generalization of treatment effects of a cognitive- behavioral treatment program for marital distress. Following a baseline phase, each of four couples received two phases of marital therapy within a multiple baseline across subject design. The first phase of treatment was behavioral marital therapy (BMT) focusing on communication and problem solving skills. The second phase was cognitive- behavioral marital therapy (CBMT) which focused on conflict management skills in high risk interactive settings at home. Couples’ communication was assessed in a training setting in the clinic and each of two generalization probe settings at home (a low risk and a high risk) setting. The BMT phase produced a clear reduction in communication negativity in the training setting which generalized to both the low and the high risk setting. The CMBT phase produced little additional changes in communication, however, it was associated with changes on a measure of positive and negative partner- referent thoughts. 2007-11-16T04:17:30Z Behrens, Brett C. og Sanders, Matthew R. og Halford, W. Kim http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120038 Behavioural marital therapy (BMT) has developed from the application of social exchange and social learning theories to the understanding and modification of marital interaction. Encouraging high rates of exchange of positive behaviours, and training in communication skills, have been the major focuses of BMT till recently. While these strategies produce therapeutic change, there are still many couples whose marriages do not improve with this sort of therapy. Recent developments have focused on the role of cognitive, affective and situational variables in marital interaction. Outcome research has shown the value of cognitive and affective interventions in their own right, but it is unclear if the addition of these interventions will enhance the efficacy of BMT. 2007-11-21T15:38:46Z Behrens, Brett C. og Sanders, Matthew R. og Halford, W. Kim http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120111 Behavioural marital therapy (BMT) is a promising approach to the pervasive concern of lack of marital satisfaction. BMT produces gains in marital satisfaction which are statistically significantly superior to no treatment controls. However, when more stringent criteria for success are applied, which are of greater clinical relevance, success rates are moderate. It is argued the limitations of BMT efficacy may be due to three faults in the current conceptualization and practice of BMT. Firstly, while some recognition of the role of cognitions has been made, the salient cognitions of distressed couples have not been clearly described in specific social contexts. Secondly the cognitive interventions used do not relate clearly to identified maladaptive cognitions. Finally, the generalization of therapeutic effects has been assessed insufficiently, and generalization has not been programmed into therapeutic procedures. Specific suggestions are offered which may help to overcome these problems. 2007-11-27T15:08:26Z Halford, Kim og Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120014 There is a well established relationship between marital discord and individual psychopathology in family members. This paper reviews evidence relating to patterns of marital interaction related to the co- occurrence of marital discord and three common psychological disorders: depression, alcohol abuse, and childhood conduct disorders. The effects of behavioural marital therapy (BMT) on dysfunctional marital interaction in such cases, and the impact of BMT on individual’s psychological disorders, are evaluated. It is concluded that BMT is often a useful component of treatment in each disorder reviewed. Further it is argued that it is important routinely to assess the relationship context in which these disorders occur. Finally, some of the difficulties and limitations of the application of BMT in cases where the presenting problem is an individual psychopathology are considered. 2007-11-20T16:13:57Z Halford, W. Kim og Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120079 This controlled treatment- outcome study compared the effects of behavioural parent training (BPT) and standard dietary education (SDE) on the mealtime interaction, feeding behaviour, nutritional status, and adjustment of children with feeding disorders. Participants were 20 children (aged between 18 months and five years) with persistent feeding difficulties, and their families. Children underwent initial screening (involving medical assessment, behavioural observation of mealtime interaction, nutritional intake analysis, and self-report measures of parent and child adjustment) and were randomly assigned to BPT or SDE. Results indicated that children in both treatment conditions showed improvement on the child behaviour measures (e.g. food refusal, disruptive behaviour during mealtimes) at home and in mealtime observations in the clinic. Children in both conditions also showed an increase in the variety of foods sampled by follow-up. Following treatment, mothers who received BPT showed more positive mother- child interaction during mealtimes, and both parents were more satisfied with treatment than parents in SDE. Mothers in both conditions showed slight elevations in mood posttest and follow-up, and increased marital satisfaction at posttest (which decreased by follow-up). All other treatment effects were maintained at a three- to four-month follow-up assessment. 2007-11-23T14:52:31Z Turner, Karen M. T. og Sanders, Matthew R. og Wall, Claire R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119894 This paper reviews recent research on the effectiveness of behavioural self- control procedures with children and adolescents. A range of procedural variations relevant to children’s problems is discussed, and empirical evidence on the use of self- control procedures in educational settings is evaluated. Methodological issues are considered, and suggestions for further research and application are made. Although reports on the effectiveness of various techniques have been encouraging, further systematic analysis is required in order to delineate specific variables responsible for behaviour change and to determine limits of applicability with children and adolescents. 2007-11-02T11:12:21Z Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119983 This case study describes the use of a multi component behavioural programme in the treatment of a 13- year- old girl with multiple phobias of injections, dental and medical procedures who faced major surgery within 6 months. The treatment involved coping skills training, systematic desensitization, in vivo desensitization with participant modelling and homework assignments. Measures of anxiety via SUDS ratings, behavioural approach tests and self- report measures demonstrated the effectiveness of the treatment program and the subsequent maintenance of treatment effects at 8 months follow-up. 2007-11-19T15:57:31Z Sanders, Matthew R. og Jones, Lyndall http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119960 2007-11-14T15:38:44Z Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119950 2007-11-14T10:49:56Z Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119934 This book is a collection of conference papers on the use of systematic observation procedures in studying mental retardation. As a reference text the volume makes a useful contribution to researchers interested in the use of observational methodologies. 2007-11-09T12:28:00Z Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119951 The overall aim of this book as described by the author is to provide a behaviour analysis of the processes involved in training parents, nurses, and teachers to employ behavioural techniques. Hence, the focus is not on teaching behaviour therapy skills to clinicians, but rather how to train others to modify behaviour of clients. 2007-11-14T11:11:17Z Matthew R. Sanders http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119886 Eighty-three couples were stratified into groups at high and low risk for relationship distress and randomized to either the Self-Regulatory Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (Self-PREP) or a control condition. As predicted, there were differential effects of Self-PREP on high-risk and low-risk couples. Because of low statistical power, results must be interpreted cautiously, but at 1-year follow-up high-risk couples in Self-PREP showed trends toward better communication than control couples. However, there was no difference in the communication of Self-PREP and control low-risk couples. High-risk couples receiving Self-PREP exhibited higher relationship satisfaction at 4 years than control couples, but in low-risk couples relationship satisfaction was higher in the control condition. High-risk couples seemed to benefit from skills-based relationship education, but low-risk couples did not. 2007-11-01T10:48:57Z Halford, W. Kim og Sanders, Matthew R. og Behrens, Brett C. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119904 We assessed the family interactions of depressed, conduct-disordered, mixed depressed-conductdisordered, and nonclinic children, ages 7-14 years, during a standardized family problem-solving discussion in the clinic. The child's and the mother's problem-solving proficiency, aversive behavior, and associated affective behavior (depressed and angry-hostile) were observed. The child and mother also rated each other's affect during the interaction for the dimensions sad, angry, critical, and happy on Likert-type scales. The child's and mother's cognitive constructions about the interaction were assessed using videomediated recall. Although all clinic groups had lower levels of effective problem solving than did nonclinic children, their deficiencies were somewhat different. Mixed and depressed children displayed high levels of depressed affect and low levels of angry affect, whereas conduct-disordered children displayed both angry and depressed affect. In addition, conduct-disordered children had lower levels of positive problem solving and higher levels of aversive content than did non-conduct-disordered children. Depressed and conduct-disordered children had higher levels of self-referent negative cognitions than did mixed and comparison children, and depressed children also had higher other-referent negative cognitions than did all other groups. The study provides support for theories and treatment that stress the importance of family problem-solving and conflict resolution skills in child psychopathology. 2007-11-06T14:05:44Z Sanders, Matthew R. og Dadds, Mark R. og Johnston, Bradley M. og Cash, Ray http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119905 Few researchers have assessed family interaction patterns associated with childhood depression, especially using observations in natural settings. We directly sampled the interaction patterns of families with depressed, conduct-disordered, mixed depressed-conduct-disordered, and comparison children ages 7-14 years in their homes during the evening meal. Observational measures were taken of positive and aversive behaviors and affect expression for both parents, the referred children, and their siblings. Results replicated previous research showing that conduct-disordered children express high levels of aversive behavior and anger and are part of a family system marked by conflict and aggression. The depressed children were exposed to maternal aversiveness but did not show any evidence of elevated levels of anger or aversiveness in their own behavior. Surprisingly, this was also true for the mixed-disorder children. High levels of depression in both groups of depressed children were associated with low levels of conflict and anger in family members. Overall, siblings showed very similar patterns of behavior, and were exposed to similar patterns of parental behavior, as the referred children. Results are discussed in terms of family models that emphasize the function of aggression and depression in the maintenance of child psychopathology. 2007-11-06T13:13:30Z Mark R. Dadds og Matthew R. Sanders og Margaret Morrison og Margaret Rebgetz http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119953 Childhood disruptive behaviour disorders are the most common childhood adjustment problems, resulting in significant personal costs to the family and major problems for the community. The GP is in a good position to identify such behaviours at an early stage and to institute appropriate management strategies based on modifying family interaction patterns. Children with severe problems require referral to mental health professionals, but in milder cases these problems can be successfully managed in the general practice setting. 2007-11-14T13:34:18Z Matthew R. Sanders og Carol Markie- Dadds og Karen M. T. Turner http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120059 This study evaluated two procedures for assessing the cognitive constructions of family interactions of conduct- disordered children and their mothers. Video- mediated recall (VR) uses videotaped replays of family interaction as a cue to elicit cognitions about the interaction; thought listing (TL) involves writing down cognitions about the interaction. Twenty-five conduct- disordered children and 17 nonproblem children and their parents participated in the study. Cognitions were coded into self-referent positive, self-referent negative, family-referent positive, family-referent negative, other-referent positive, and other referent- negative. There was a significant effect of clinical status on cognitions using the VR measure for both children and parents, but not using the TL method. As hypothesized, conduct- disordered children on the VR method had higher levels of self-referent negative cognitions, lower levels of self-referent positive cognitions, and lower levels of family-referent positive cognitions than comparison children. 2007-11-23T10:51:41Z Matthew R. Sanders og Mark R. Dadds http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119921 This study examined the relationship between parent's feeding practices and the feeding behavior of toddlers and preschool-age children with (n = 19) or without (n = 26) persistent feeding difficulties. Specifically, patterns of parent-child interaction were assessed during standardized family mealtime observations in the clinic. Parents also kept observational records of their children's mealtime behavior at home and rated the degree of difficulty they experienced in feeding their child during each meal on a daily basis. Observational results showed that feeding-disordered children engaged in higher levels of disruptive mealtime behavior (food refusal, noncompliance, complaining, oppositional behavior, and playing with food) and lower levels of chewing during mealtime. There were several significant age effects, with younger children (under age 3) engaging in more vomiting and less aversive demanding and verbalizations. Parents of feeding-disordered children were more negative and coercive in their feeding practices and engaged in higher levels of aversive instruction giving, aversive prompting, and negative eating-related comments. There were several significant associations between coercive parental behaviors and children's food refusal and noncompliance in the sample as a whole. Measures of children's disruptiveness at mealtimes in the clinic were significantly correlated with measures of mealtime behavior in the home. 2007-11-07T15:18:56Z Sanders, Matthew R. og Patel, Rinu K. og Grice, Bonny Le og Shepherd, Ross W. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119929 Behavioural parent training as a treatment approach for conduct disordered children and their families has been a remarkably successful endeavour. However, both clinical experience and research findings have shown that some families can be considerably more difficult to treat than others. Families in which there is significant marital disharmony, maternal depression, low income, and lack of support networks, often drop out from treatment and fail to generalize or maintain treatment gains. This paper explores some of the potential ecological obstacles to programming generalization and maintenance effects in parent training. It also reviews a range of clinical strategies that can be employed to facilitate generalization effects in families. It is argued that if generalization enhancement strategies are to be effective they need to be derived from a fine grained functional analysis of each parent's ecological environment and individually tailored to that setting. 2007-11-08T15:42:39Z Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119842 This commentary argues that empirically validated treatments for child and youth behaviour and emotional difficulties are available, but they are relatively inaccessible to the vast majority of Australian children and their families. There are many children who have identifiable problems or who are at increased risk for psychosocial problems whose needs have not been adequately addressed by either the research or the professional community. These incluse children in rural and remote areas, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children of migrants, and children with chronic physical illnesses. A comprehensive, preventively focused clinical science of prevention is needed to improve the reach and impact of psychological services for children. 2007-10-24T16:22:54Z Matthew R. Sanders http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120152 We examined the relationship between contextual variables and ongoing patterns of aversive interchange between partners and children in families of oppositional and nonproblem children. We obtained observational measures of child and maternal aversiveness and setting events (maternal activity, physical location, persons present) in each of five home settings on two separate occasions to derive a profile of families’ typical patterns of interaction. We sought to determine how much levels of oppositional child and aversive maternal behavior varied as a function of contextual variables. As expected, the results showed that oppositional children and their mothers engage in higher levels of aversive interchange, compared to controls. However, both groups obtained a very similar profile in terms of how long mothers engaged in different household activities and stayed in different locations and how long children spent in the presence of their mother, father, and siblings. A regression analysis showed that a combined model that included both child aversiveness and all three sets of contextual variables accounted for a significantly greater amount of variance in maternal aversiveness than a model that included child aversiveness alone. A similar finding was obtained in a regression analysis to predict child aversiveness. However, the amount of variance accounted for by contextual variables varied considerably across families. We discuss implications of these findings for understanding family processes associated with oppositional behavior. 2007-11-30T11:07:37Z Sanders, Matthew R. og Dadds, Mark R. og Bor, William http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119837 Objective: This study examines the correlates of coercive parenting in a high-risk sample of 305 three-year-old children likely to develop later conduct problems. As parental coercion has been identified as a significant risk factor for future psychopathology, the study sought to identify modifiable inter and intra-personal factors most closely associated with coercion. Method: Key variables known to place young children at future risk, such as maternal mood states, current child behaviour problems, demographic characteristics such as low income, past mental health problems and parents’ sense of competence, were analyzed based on parent-report measures and clinical interviews. Correlational and heirachical regression analysis identified key predictors of coercion. Results: Three variables emerged as the strongest predictors of maternal coercion: selfefficacy, child behaviour and maternal depression. Demographic factors contributed little to the model. Conclusions: Enhancing parental self-efficacy, especially specific parenting tasks with disruptive young children has the potential to make a significant contribution toward prevention of future conduct problems. 2007-10-24T14:26:45Z Bor, William og Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119937 This paper examines the organisational, interpersonal, and political processes involved in setting up specialised clinical research and training facilities within Australian universities. The Behaviour Research and Therapy Centre (BRTC) at the University of Queensland is discussed as an example to illustrate the tasks involved in setting up and maintaining a clinical research and training facility. We also discuss some of the organisational obstacles to designing clinical facilities and possible strategies for overcoming them. Designing a training environment creates opportunities to apply principles of environmental design, organisational psychology, and behaviour modification. 2007-11-09T17:12:41Z Sanders, Matthew R. og Dadds, Mark R. og Halford, W. Kim og Schwartz, Steven http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119919 There is growing evidence that children living in stepfamilies are at greater risk of developing behavior problems, particularly aggressive, antisocial behavior problems, than children living in intact two-parent families. These children are also at high risk of serious long-term consequences including school drop-out and substance abuse. Despite the existence of an effective technology for treating behaviorally disturbed children within traditional family contexts, no research has examined the efficacy of intervention programs designed for children with behavior problems living in stepfamilies. This article reviews the stepfamily research literature to identify factors contributing to child behavior problems in the remarried family context. An integrated model of the development and maintenance of child behavior problems in stepfamilies is developed. Key areas relevant to the treatment of problems in the stepfamily context are discussed. A behavioral family intervention addressing the skills deficits identified in the model is outlined. The implications for the design of stepfamily interventions and issues relevant to conducting effective therapy are highlighted. There is a clear need for future research in this area. In particular, it is recommended that controlled trials be conducted of interventions that specifically address factors known to contribute to child behavior problems in stepfamilies, and which use state of the art behavioral family intervention techniques. 2007-11-07T13:52:35Z Lawton, Ian M. og Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120073 The interpersonal context within behavioral family intervention is a potentially important determinant of therapy outcome. This paper highlights the importance of identifying and explicating specific consultation skills associated with successful clinical outcomes. The discussion of assessment findings with families is an important phase of therapy for laying the foundations for skill training. These discussions are important in developing a working relationship with the family and for creating appropriate expectations of therapy process and outcome. A guided participation model of information transfer is described and illustrated with examples from the author’s work with families of behaviourally disturbed children. Commonly encountered difficulties are highlighted and possible solutions to individual consultation problems are proposed. Specific suggestions are made for enhancing therapy outcome with difficult to treat families and those at high risk of dropping out of therapy. Implications of this work for research into the mechanism of change in behavioral family intervention are discussed. 2007-11-23T12:21:14Z Sanders, Matthew R. og Lawton, Jan M. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119892 2007-11-01T16:18:03Z R. J. Peters og M. Sanders http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:107703 This paper discusses the evidence for parenting skills training and behavioral family intervention (BFI), and the need for early intervention and prevention programs. It presents a conceptual framework for a comprehensive multilevel parenting and family support strategy for reducing the prevalence of parenting difficulties and other family risk factors associated with child maltreatment and the development of behavioral and emotional problems in children and adolescents. The framework for the system of intervention known as the Triple P—Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) is described. Also discussed are issues in the dissemination of evidence-based psychological interventions. A dissemination approach is presented which is based on a systemscontextual perspective that views practitioner uptake as being influenced by a range of program design, training, quality maintenance, organizational and motivational variables. Our experience in the widespread dissemination and implementation of Triple P at a population-level are shared and recommendations and future directions for dissemination of evidence-based preventive family interventions are noted. 2007-08-27T11:42:27Z Turner, K. M. T. og Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120112 The most fundamental assumptions of behavioural marital therapy (BMT) are that maritally distressed couples (DCs) emit lower frequencies of pleasing behaviours, higher frequencies of aversive behaviours, and desire more behaviour change by their spouses than do nondistressed couples (NDC). As part of a larger marital studies project, 19 DCs and 20 NDCs (classified on the basis of interview) monitored the daily occurrence of pleasing and displeasing dyadic behaviours and made ratings of daily marital satisfaction, using the Spouse Observation Checklist (SOC). Couples also completed the Areas of Change Questionnaire (ACQ) which measures the desired behaviour change by spouse, and perceptions of change requested of self by spouse. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed a significant difference between the DC and NDC groups across these measures, which supports the postulates of behavioural marital therapy. The MANOVA indicated there were no significant sex differences. Data from this Australian sample were compared, and found similar, to published reports on U.S. couples. Advantages and limitations of the SOC and ACQ as research and clinical assessment instruments are discussed. 2007-11-27T15:23:54Z Halford, W. Kim og Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119848 Parents of 468 children aged between 12 and 14 years in ten high schools in a city in regional north Queensland and metropolitan Melbourne participated in a survey of early adolescent behaviour. The major undesirable behaviours experienced by parents were fighting with siblings, talking back to adults, moodiness, and school difficulties. Frequently listed desirable behaviours that were experienced were related to housework and communication. Parents indicated a desire for education to help them assist their teenage children develop more appropriate behaviour, and in particular in regard to better managing their emotions. The findings are discussed in the context of the challenge of designing and delivering effective early intervention programs to large numbers of parents of early adolescents. 2007-10-26T11:53:07Z Ralph, Alan og Toumbourou, John Winston og Grigg, Morgen og Mulcahy, Rhiannon og Carr-Gregg, Michael og Sanders, Matthew R http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119990 Many of Australia’s most serious and distressing mental health problems are related to the breakdown of traditional family support structures. Regardless of age, people who live in families with high levels of interpersonal conflict, violence, poor communication and inadequate care are at increased risk for a variety of mental health problems. This paper summarises the main recommendations of a scientific advisory committee on families and mental health, which prepared the Healthy Families, Healthy Nation: Strategies for Promoting Family Mental Health in Australia (Sanders, 1995). The paper argues for the intervention programs and for the importance of a preventive focus in the provision of family oriented mental health services. We also highlight some of the unresolved issues that should become a focus of future research. 2007-11-20T10:09:53Z Sanders, Matthew R. og Duncan, Sarah B. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119928 This paper critically reviews research on the use of self-management procedures to enhance generalization and maintenance effects in behavioural parent training. It is argued that while many training programs for parents implicitly expect parents to engage in self-controlling behaviors, specific training in these skills is rarely provided. Research evidence relating to teaching parents goal selection, self-monitoring, self-determination of rewards and punishments, self-specification of performance standards, self-administration of rewards and punishments, techniques to rearrange the physical environment and problem solving skills are reviewed and discussed. Of these techniques only self-monitoring procedures has adequate empirical support. Methodological issues are raised and several areas for future research are pinpointed. 2007-11-08T15:19:55Z Sanders, Matthew R. og James, Jack E. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120067 Behavioural family intervention (BFI) as a treatment approach emphasises the importance of family interaction patterns in the origins, maintenance, and treatment of child behaviour problems. The BFI field can document substantial contributions to the development of more effective treatments with children, particularly those with conduct problems. Furthermore, this approach is now being applied to new areas with encouraging results (eg. pain, chronic health problems, anxiety disorders, and learning difficulties). There is increasing evidence that this technology is not a panacea and that good clinical outcomes can be difficult to achieve when children’s problems are complicated by other indices of family adversity (eg. marital discord, maternal depression, alcohol abuse, or poverty). This special issue of Behaviour Change documents recent developments in BFI which attempt to improve outcomes with high risk groups. Applications of BFI with depressed and marital distressed parents and with children who are developmentally disabled, anxious, or have learning difficulties, are discussed. Finally, the issue points towards the use of BFI as a strategy for preventing disruptive behavioural disorders in children. 2007-11-23T11:35:12Z Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119970 Notes to the practitioner and contents 2007-11-16T10:30:37Z Matthew R. Sanders http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:40790 2007-08-10T12:34:29Z Sanders, M. R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119922 We examined two systems of assessing family interactions that are in common usage: a home based observation of free parent-child interaction and a clinic based observation of a structured mother-child problem solving discussion. Participants were 18 depressed, 27 conduct disordered and 16 comparison children and their mothers. Results indicated that: 1) these observations may yield very different data about child, and to a lesser extent, parent behavior, 2) parental affect in the clinic was related to their level of aversive behaviour in the home, 3) levels of both aversive and positive behavior for children and their mothers were correlated within each setting, 4) accuracy of diagnostic classifications made on the basis of the observational data were highest for comparison and conduct disordered children, but lowest for depressed children observed in the clinic, and 5) the inclusion of data on mothers' behavior increased classification accuracy for conduct disordered children only. 2007-11-07T15:44:55Z Dadds, Mark R. og Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119893 Although considerable evidence has accumulated regarding the effectiveness of peers as behavior managers, little attention has been directed toward the analysis of components of training programs. Also, it is not known whether high and low preference peers have different reinforcing effects. In this study, a two-phase peer training program was introduced to five high preference and five low preference peer managers. The Managers were assigned one to each of 10 grade-four elementary pupils with high rates of disruptive behavior. Peer Training I was composed of instructions to monitor and reinforce target subject behavior on a time-sample schedule, to record this reinforcement, and to ignore inappropriate behavior in target subjects. Peer Training II introduced, in addition, backup reinforcement for the monitoring behavior of managers. Measures were taken of target subject behavior, antecedent and consequent attention from managers and other peers, monitoring behavior of managers, teacher behavior, and preference ratings of peer managers by target subjects. Significant improvements in target subject behavior occurred following Peer Training I and further improvements occurred following Peer Training II. These changes were paralleled by decreases in the frequency of antecedent and consequent manager attention to problem behaviors, and improvements in the number and accuracy of monitoring checks. Recorded reductions in teacher attention to individual children and to target subjects were not statistically significant. Posttest preference scores improved significantly over pretest scores for low preference managers, while remaining high for high preference managers. 2007-11-02T09:39:52Z Sanders, Matthew R. og Ted Glynn http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119910 It is now widely accepted that dysfunctional parenting practices and family conflict are generic risk factors related to a wide variety of behavioural and emotional problems in children and adolescents. Indeed of all the potentially modifiable risk and protective factors that can affect children’s development, improving parenting skills and confidence holds the greatest potential in improving children’s health status and well being, and in reducing the risk of developing serious mental health problems. Evidence to support the importance of good parenting in the aetiology, maintenance, treatment and prevention of childhood problems is substantial. This evidence comes from diverse fields and areas of inquiry including animal research, behavioural genetics, developmental studies using both cross sectional and longitudinal designs, and intervention research where parenting variables are manipulated in both treatment and prevention trials (see Sanders, 1999). 2007-11-07T11:17:11Z Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119898 Abstract—This study evaluated the generalization, maintenance, and negative side-effects of Habit Reversal (HR) and Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviour (DRO) in the elimination of thumbsucking. Thirty children who sucked their thumbs or fingers excessively were randomly assigned to a HR, DRO or wait-list control group. Observation data were collected in three observation settings. Both procedures effectively reduced thumb-sucking in both a training setting and in two generalization settings, and initial generalization effects maintained over time. However, both procedures resulted in some temporary increases in oppositional behaviour and produced low elimination rates. Differences between HR and DRO were not statistically significant; however parents evaluated HR somewhat more favourably than DRO. 2007-11-02T15:15:49Z Christensen, Alison P. og Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119947 This paper illustrates how the application of eight key principles of population level programming is needed to achieve a reduction in the prevalence of child behavioural and emotional problems using the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program. 2007-11-13T13:53:26Z Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119854 Examined the role of family interaction factors in dietary compliance problems reported by parents of children with cystic fibrosis (CF). The family mealtime interactions of children with CF, children with feeding problems and nonclinic controls were observed, and parents monitored children's eating behavior at home. Parents of children with CF reported more concern about feeding problems and recorded more disruptive mealtime behavior than parents of nonclinic children. Observational data showed children with CF to display overall rates of disruptive mealtime behavior not significantly different from either comparison group. Mothers of children with CF were observed to engage in higher rates of aversive interaction with their child than did mothers of nonclinic controls. Fathers of children with CF reported lower marital satisfaction than fathers of controls. Both mothers and fathers of children with CF reported lower parenting self-efficacy than non-CF families. Clinical implications are discussed. 2007-10-26T15:39:50Z Sanders, Matthew R. og Turner, Karen M. T. og Wall, Clare R. og Waugh, Linda M. og Tully, Lucy A. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119961 2007-11-14T15:53:10Z Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:120011 This paper examines the current status, limitations and future directions of behavioural family intervention with children. There is clear evidence that behavioural parent training is an effective treatment approach with a variety of childhood disorders, however some facilities fail to derive much benefit from existing treatment strategies. Recently researchers have examined ways of improving response to treatment of these difficult cases, including focus on the treatment of maternal depression, marital difficulties and the need of single parents and reconstituted families. This paper highlights recent developments involving applications of parent training procedures to new clinical problems and discusses the importance of continuing research with a preventative focus. 2007-11-20T15:34:34Z Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119933 This section illustrates the diversity of clinical problems commonly encountered in paediatric psychology. It presents an overview of the role of the paediatric psychologist and the typical professional responsibilities they perform. A sample of disorders seen by paediatric psychologists is reviewed. Strategies for conducting a comprehensive assessment are outlines with some guidelines for treatment. A case example of a child with recurrent abdominal pain is presented. 2007-11-09T12:03:33Z Sanders, Matthew R. og Turner, Karen M. T. og Markie- Dadds, Carol http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119887 The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of ADHD on the functioning of families. A review of research indicated that the persistence of symptoms into adulthood and the high rate of comorbidity with behaviour, psychiatric and mood disorders, are major additional stressors for families. Although the clinical presentation, developmental manifestations and patterns of comorbidity have been refined, it is emphasised that effective management of this disorder requires access to interventions which are both multilevel and multimodal. A model of a multilevel system of intervention that can be tailored to the individual family’s needs at different stages of development is presented. 2007-11-01T12:12:38Z Sheridan, Judith og Dwyer, Sarah B. og Sanders, Matthew R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:119865 The reduction of coercive or inadequate parenting is essential if the mental health status of Australian children and adolescents is to be improved. Of the available approaches that address parenting practices, behavioural family interventions have the strongest empirical support and are effective in reducing parenting practices that contribute to the development of behavioural and emotional problems in children. However, only a small proportion of parents access such interventions. A comprehensive multilevel, evidence-based parenting and family support strategy needs to be implemented on a wide scale to reduce the prevalence of mental health problems in children and youth. The Triple P – Positive Parenting Program is an example of a population-level strategy that can be used to improve the mental health status of children and their parents. 2007-10-29T13:41:53Z Sanders, Matthew R.