PCIT for Older Children

PCIT Adapted for Older Children

Developed by Sheila Eyberg, PhD, ABPP, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based treatment for children ages two to seven years with disruptive behaviors. The Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Protocol (Eyberg & Funderburk, 2011) is a treatment manual that enhances treatment integrity for clinicians and promotes treatment replicability for researchers. There is a strong base of evidence establishing PCIT as an efficacious and effective treatment for disruptive behavior disorders in young children. Standard PCIT has been used with children up to 12 years of age with some successes as well as some notable challenges (Chaffin et al., 2004; Franco et al., 2005). There have been several case studies detailing the delivery of PCIT with older children using developmentally appropriate treatment modifications (Cohen et al., 2011; Stokes et al., 2017). However, further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of PCIT for older children.

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Adapted for Older Children: A Research Development Manual is a treatment protocol based on the PCIT Protocol (Eyberg & Funderburk, 2011) and Chapter 10 of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (2nd Edition; McNeil & Hembree-Kigin, 2010) for PCIT therapists who wish to extend their PCIT practice to children ages 7-10 years old. The purpose of this manual is two-fold: (1) to standardize the approach outlined in Chapter 10 of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (McNeil & Hembree-Kigin, 2010) so that it can be used in controlled outcome studies and (2) to support experienced PCIT clinicians in their implementation of the treatment modifications in the book chapter.

A concerted effort was made to keep consistent with standard PCIT, for which there is already strong empirical support. Therefore, most forms have been adapted from the PCIT Protocol (Eyberg & Funderburk, 2011). Where no adaptation was needed, page numbers are provided for readers to locate the forms in the PCIT Protocol (Eyberg & Funderburk, 2011).

In Chapter 10 of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, McNeil and Hembree-Kigin (2010) describe an adaptation of PCIT for children ages 7-10 years that maintains many of the core elements of the standard protocol (e.g., assessment, Child-Directed Interaction, Parent-Directed Interaction, time-out, live caregiver coaching) while making developmentally informed adjustments to specific skills and strategies. This approach is suitable for children ages 7-10 years for whom time-out is still a developmentally appropriate consequence and whose level of aggression does not interfere with shaping procedures for sitting in time-out. This book expands on the Older Child chapter and includes privilege loss procedures for children in this age range for whom time-out is not an appropriate consequence.

As is the case with standard PCIT, this manual allows for clinicians to tailor treatment to meet the unique needs of the child and the family. When using this research development manual, the cultural identities and values of the family should be explored and considered throughout the course of treatment.