Trial a positive sign for children with disruptive behaviour

Parents struggling to manage young children with challenging behaviour now have another option to deal with the issue, and it has the backing of a clinical trial.

Researchers with The Kidman Centre at UTS, which examines mental health treatment for young people, led a trial involving 130 families with children aged seven to 14 who have oppositional behavioural issues.

Families involved in the trial used either the established Parent Management Training (PMT) program, or a relatively new alternative therapy called Collaborative Proactive Solutions (CPS).

Where PMT is parent-led with rewards or punishments for good and bad behaviour respectively, CPS take more of a “collaborative” approach to problem-solving with the child, lead researcher Dr Rachael Murrihy said.