Parent and Family Interventions in Pediatric Psychology: Clinical Applications

Abstract

Parent and family interventions have a long, demonstrated history of utilization in pediatric psychology settings. The current article will first briefly overview and describe the predominant parent and family intervention approaches used in pediatric psychology, including traditional family therapy approaches, cognitive–behavioral family therapy, behavioral family systems therapy, multisystemic therapy, and problem-solving therapy approaches. Broad strategies for the practical implementation of these interventions are discussed, including working with multiple subsystems, collaboration with interdisciplinary teams, developing shared conceptual models with family and medical team members, and exercising both flexibility and clinical judgment with complex cases. Obstacles and barriers to successful implementation of these treatments will next be reviewed, including parent/caregiver characteristics, patient characteristics, economic challenges, medical setting characteristics, and communication barriers, as well as recommendations for overcoming these barriers. A case study is presented that illustrates a typical family intervention approach. Future directions are reviewed including continued empirical evaluation of family interventions, conducting dismantling studies, targeting of resiliency variables, and evaluation of electronically delivered treatments.