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3C Institute

PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN SOCIAL SKILLS INTERVENTIONS: PHASE II

NIMH
ID: 5R44MH065718-03
PI: MELISSA DEROSIER, PHD
TERM: 04/03 – 03/05

Problematic peer relations, particularly when chronic, can have a tremendous impact on children’s functioning and mental health. Decades of research indicate that peer rejection and victimization negatively affect adjustment and place children at increased risk for a myriad of negative outcomes, whereas positive social relationships can serve as a protective factor promoting positive adjustment. Prevention and treatment research supports the use of social skills group therapy for improving children’s peer relations, social behavior, and emotional adjustment. However, multi-component intervention efforts that target both the child and the home environment may be more effective.

Through a Phase I grant, a prototype of the Parent Guide to S.S.GRIN was developed as a parent intervention that parallels a child-focused intervention product, i.e., Social Skills GRoup INtervention (S.S.GRIN). During Phase I, the initial versions of each component of the Parent Guide product (i.e., Professional Manual, session scripts, parent handouts, and overview video) were created and tested. Feasibility of the product was successfully established both within a targeted market (school counselors) and with end users (parents).

The goal of this Phase II project was to continue the research and development of the Parent Guide to S.S.GRIN,which was begun during Phase I. Phase I findings were used to update, modify, and extend the Parent Guidecomponents. An efficacy trial was conducted comparing outcomes for three groups: parent treatment only, combined parent and child treatment, and no treatment control. Results indicated that parent-focused treatment yielded positive benefits for both parents (greater competence in helping their children) and children (improved social-emotional functioning). The Parent Guide intervention is available for purchase throughwww.selmediainc.com .

In order to obtain further evidence for the effectiveness of the Parent Guide program, additional funding was sought to conduct a larger scale trial of the intervention.

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DEB CHILDRESS, PHD

Chief of Research and Learning Content

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Childress obtained her PhD in psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to 3C Institute, she served as a research associate and a postdoctoral fellow in the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working on a longitudinal imaging study aimed at identifying the early markers of autism through behavioral and imaging methodologies. She has 19 years of autism research experience, during which she has examined the behavioral, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals with autism and their family members. Dr. Childress also has experience developing behavioral and parent report measurement tools, coordinating multi-site research studies, and collecting data from children and families. She has taught courses and seminars in general child development, autism, and cognitive development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Expertise

  • autism
  • early development
  • behavioral measurement
  • integrating behavioral and biological measurement

Education

  • Postdoctoral fellowship, Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (Institutional NRSA-NICHD), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • PhD, developmental psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • BS, psychology (minor in sociology), University of Iowa

Selected Publications

  • Elison, J. T., Wolff, J. J., Heimer, D. C., Paterson, S. J., Gu, H., Hazlett, H. C., Styner, M, Gerig, G., & Piven, J. (in press). Frontolimbic neural circuitry at 6 months predicts individual differences in joint attention at 9 months. Developmental Science.
  • Wassink, T. H., Vieland, V. J., Sheffield, V. C., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., Childress, D. & Piven, J. (2008). Posterior probability of linkage analysis of autism dataset identifies linkage to chromosome 16. Psychiatric Genetics,18(2),85-91.
  • Losh, M., Childress, D., Lam K. & Piven, J. (2008). Defining key features of the broad autism phenotype: A comparison across parents of multiple- and single-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 147B(4):424-33.
  • Wassink, T. H., Piven, J., Vieland, V. J., Jenkins, L., Frantz R., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., … Sheffield, V.C. (2005). Evaluation of the chromosome 2q37.3 gene CENTG2 as an autism susceptibility gene. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 136, 36-44.
  • Barrett, S., Beck, J., Bernier, R., Bisson, E., Braun, T., Casavant, T., Childress, D., … Vieland, V. (1999). An autosomal genomic screen for autism. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 88, 609-615. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8628(19991215)88:63.0.CO;2-L
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Landa, R., Santangelo, S., Jacobi, D. & Childress, D. (1997). Personality and language characteristics in parents from multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 74, 398-411.
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Jacobi, D., Childress, D. & Arndt, S. (1997). Broader autism phenotype: Evidence from a family history study of multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 185-190.