(PS12-93) Evaluating the Effectiveness of Telehealth-supported Compliance Training

Saturday, November 16, 2024

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST

Location: Franklin Hall, Level 4, Marriott Downtown

Author(s)

KM

Katerra L. Miller, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology
Southern Utah University
Cedar City, Utah, United States

Co-Author(s)

SF

Sarah Flood, M.Ed.

Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student
Southern Utah University
Cedar City, Utah, United States
KR

Keith Radley, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of School Psychology
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Abstract Text: Noncompliance is one of the most frequently endorsed child behavior concerns in the United States. When left untreated, noncompliance can lead to widespread and pervasive disruption to the child’s environment and developmental trajectory. Compliance training is behavioral treatment for young children that targets noncompliance. It is characterized by strategic use of evidence-based effective instructions, time-in, and contingent praise. Compliance training has been shown to be efficacious at improving compliance and parent use of compliance training strategies in clinical settings. There is a growing need to identify alternative methods for disseminating evidence-based services; the present study used a multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate the degree to which telehealth-supported compliance training improved child compliance and parents’ use of target skills in the home. Participants included three parent-child dyads (Mchild age= 4.7; Mparent age= 31.3) recruited from daycare centers and a private practice in a largely underserved Mountain West region of the United States. To be included in the study, child participants had to be within 3 and 6 years of age and comply with 50% or less of parent-delivered instructions across two brief observation periods. Parent participants had to demonstrate intervention components with treatment integrity equal to or less than 50% during the same observation periods. The intervention led to an immediate increase in the percentage of child compliance for two of the three child participants, and all parent participants demonstrated a substantial increase in use of targeted skills. These results provide preliminary evidence for the use of telehealth to deliver compliance training services. Although the results of the present study are promising, the sample size was small and the participants were relatively homogenous, calling into question the generalizability of these findings. Further research is needed to evaluate intervention effectiveness and acceptability using a larger sample that includes individuals who present with characteristics that may impact the effectiveness of telehealth-based services, such as a range of visual and/or hearing abilities, primary languages, and physical characterics of home settings.