Cochrane Review; Behavioural Group-Based Parent Training Interventions for Children Aged

Cochrane Review; Behavioural group-based parent training interventions for children aged 3-8 with early onset conduct problems.

Mairead Furlong at Maynooth University, Ireland, was awarded funds to carry out a review with co-authors Drs Sinead McGilloway, Tracey Bywater and Professor Judy Hutchings. The principal aim of the review was to determine which behavioural, group-based parenting interventions, were most effective in alleviating conduct problems in children during the important developmental-transitional phase in childhood. A secondary aim of the review was to ascertain whether or not some programmes/interventions work better than others and especially with children in high risk, multiply disadvantaged families. The question of what works best, for whom and under what circumstances is one that is often ignored in reviews of psychosocial (as opposed to medical) interventions and it is important, therefore, in so far as possible, to make like-with-like comparisons.

The searching of the various databases took longer than expected with thousands of studies being reviewed. Study selection took place in April 2010.

Over 20 databases were searched (eg, Psychinfo, CINAHL, Eric, economic databases etc), as well as parenting reviews and libraries belonging to Triple P, Incredible Years and Parent Management Training etc. Putting in a targeted search, these databases collectively yielded 19,630 abstracts of studies. The shortlist contained approximately 650 abstracts of potentially eligible studies. Both Tracey and Mairead individually went through the 650 abstracts and labeled them as eligible, ineligible or unclear. A full copy was sought of studies that did not give sufficient information in the abstract or if they did not agree on each other's categorisation.

Tracey and Mairead independently extracted relevant data from the selected studies using a data extraction form developed specifically for this review. There were fifteen eligible parent programme RCTs, with further information being requested from authors on a few of the studies. In addition economic studies linked to the above trials were searched, this yielded just two eligible studies – Edwards et al. (2007) and O’Neill et al. (submitted). These studies were linked to the IY trials in Wales and Ireland.

The review is entitled “Behavioural group-based parenting interventions for children age 3-12 with early onset conduct problems”. The protocol for this review has been published on the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews with an impact factor of 5.18.

Furlong, M., McGilloway,S., Bywater, T., Hutchings,J., Donnelly, M., Smith, S.M. and O'Neill, C., (2010) Behavioural/cognitive-behavioural group-based parenting interventions for children age 3-12 with early onset conduct problems (protocol). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews2010, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD008225. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD008225.

Furlong, M., McGilloway, S., Bywater, T., Hutchings, J., Donnelly, M., Smith, S.M. & O'Neill, C., (2012) Behavioural/cognitive-behavioural group-based parenting interventions for children age 3-12 with early onset conduct problems Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2012, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD008225. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD008225.pub2