Abstract

Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) is a therapy which requires participation from both parents and child and aims to improve parents’ child-management skills using parent education, direct coaching during parent-child play rehearsal, and homework activities. Based on Baumrind’s parenting model, including behavioral, social learning, and play therapy theories, PCIT has shown its effects on parents and children, particularly in relieving parenting stress and improving children’s behavioral problems. However, previous research on PCIT has included only one-parent participation in its therapy, primarily among mothers. Thus, it has not informed of any possible relative both-parents involvement advantage over one-parent participation. Given the limitation, this study aims to verify whether both-parents’ participation would enhance PCIT’s effects on parents and children compared to the mother-only involvement and waitlist control. A total of 44 families agreed to participate in this study. Mother-reported child problems (i.e., inattention and disruptive behaviors), parenting stress, and parenting alliance with a spouse were used as treatment outcomes. Both both-parents and mother-only PCIT conditions showed significant pre-post improvements in child problems, parenting stress, and parenting alliance; however, waitlist control showed no significant pre-post change. Further analyses were done to compare the effects between the both-parents PCIT and the mother-only PCIT. Similar effects were found in parenting stress between these two groups, but better effects of the both parents PCIT than the mother-only PCIT were found in child problems and parenting alliance. This study suggests that PCIT can lead to incremental benefits when both parents participate.