(PS12-48) The Effects of “the Fine Art of Effective Ignoring” Bootcamp on Child’s Attention Seeking Behavior

Parent Management Training (PMT) is an evidence-based intervention which teaches parents to manage children’s attention seeking, disruptive, oppositional, defiant, emotional, and aggressive behavior. PMT strategies are rooted in theories of behaviorism and utilize parent’s attention as a reinforcer for the child’s prosocial behavior in an effort to decrease their child’s negative behavior. Effectively ignoring a child’s attention-seeking behavior refers to a parent completely withholding their attention when their child exhibits disruptive behavior, and only returning their attention to the child when the undesired behavior stops and the child engages in the positive opposite of the negative behavior or an appropriate behavior.

Effective ignoring as an independent parenting strategy has received little attention in PMT research and is often overlooked in clinical applications of PMT. Many interventions briefly discuss effective ignoring during initial psychoeducation sessions, but do not provide continued coaching or assessment of skill acquisition, usage, or effects.

The current study taught parents to effectively ignore their child’s attention-seeking behavior through two sessions of a group-format parenting program referred to as The Fine Art of Effective Ignoring Bootcamp (Ignoring Bootcamp). It was hypothesized that (1) Ignoring Bootcamp group treatment would increase parent ignoring skills as measured by therapist’s coding, and that (2) two group sessions of Ignoring Bootcamp can effectively reduce parent perception of their child’s attention-seeking behavior, as measured by attention-seeking behavior Likert scale questions.

Parents attended a 30-minute, virtual intake session, completed the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) and attention-seeking behavior Likert scales, and participated in a 15-minute coding session of baseline ignoring skills. The first group treatment session (Session A) provided psychoeducational skills training for 90 minutes. Two weeks after Session A, Session B consisted of 60 minutes of skill practice and application in a group setting. Two weeks post-treatment, parents completed the ECBI and attention-seeking behavior Likert scales, participated in a 15-minute coding session of effective ignoring skills, and completed the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ).

Statistical analysis using repeated measures t-tests will be conducted for each parent’s total score of attention-seeking behavior Likert scale responses, and therapist coding of parent’s percentage of sequence accuracy, pre- and post- treatment. Repeated measures t-tests will be conducted for the pre- and post- treatment ECBIs. The CSQ will be examined qualitatively, similarly to what other researchers have reported with similar types of therapeutic interventions. 

The findings of this study will inform clinical PMT interventions. The Fine Art of Effective Ignoring Bootcamp is a rather-brief, not-time consuming, and inexpensive intervention, which PMT therapists could easily implement in their clinical practice to enhance parenting skills and foster a more positive parent-child relationship.