The Influence of the Family Context and Intervention Implementation Integrity on Child Behavior During Conjoint Behavioral Consultation

The purpose of the study was to determine the role of family context variables (i.e., parenting stress and positive parenting practices) as possible moderators and mediators of the relationship between conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC) and change in child problem behavior in the home setting. Another aim of the study was to evaluate the mediator roles of two dimensions of intervention implementation integrity (i.e., adherence to interventions and full engagement in the plan implementation phase) on parenting stress and change in child problem behavior for families involved in CBC. Participants were 203 parents, 81 teachers (81 classrooms), and 203 children who took part in a larger experimental study. Measures included rating scales of parenting stress and parenting practices, home intervention implementation integrity self-reports and permanent products, and parent reports of child problem behavior at home. The presence of moderators and mediators in three models were tested for and teacher effects were accounted for using multilevel path analyses. Results indicated CBC was effective at reducing child problem behavior at home. Additionally, when parent’s reported high levels of parenting stress, they reported little increase in their use of positive parenting practices and less engagement in the CBC plan implementation phase. Furthermore, a parent’s full engagement was affected by their child’s classroom/teacher. Lastly, as parents reported more adherence to interventions, they reported greater reductions in child problem behaviors at home than when less adherence was reported. Implications for practice and future research directions will be discussed