PYMPAR-Parent Training for Conduct Problems

Module Provider: Psychology
Number of credits: 60 [30 ECTS credits]
Level:7
Terms in which taught: Spring / Summer / Autumn module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites: PYMBAS Basic Skills
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2023/4

Module Convenor: Ms Sue Howson
Email: s.howson@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:
Workshops in the module will cover the evidence base for PT, assessment and treatment strategies for conduct problems in children using both individual and group approaches. They will cover the main presentations of conduct problems, including proactive and reactive aggression, bullying, antisocial behaviour confined to the home context or pervasive (e.g. also expressed at school), comorbid conditions such as ADHD, callous-unemotional traits, learning disabilities, emotional dysregulation etc. It will also cover the main presentations, assessment and treatment of parenting difficulties in terms of the immediate parent-child relationship including child attachment, and the wider contextual factors that impede parenting ability, such as parental depression, substance misuse, domestic violence, life events and daily hassles, and parental learning disabilities. The focus at this stage is on children aged 3-10 years but interventions for children aged 10 years and above may be considered at a later point in the programme.

Aims:

A. To develop practical competency in evidence-based PT for conduct problems in children aged 3-10 B. To develop critical knowledge of the theoretical and research literature of PT for conduct problems in children aged 3-10. The learning objectives are for students to:

• Understand the evidence base for PT, assessment and treatment strategies for conduct problems in children using both individual and group approaches.


• Be familiar with the main presentations of conduct problems, including proactive and reactive aggression, bullying, antisocial behaviour confined to the home context or pervasive (e.g. also expressed at school), comorbid conditions such as ADHD, callous-unemotional traits, learning disabilities, emotional dysregulation etc.


• Be able to address the main presentations of conduct disorder, assessment and treatment of parenting difficulties in terms of the immediate parent-child relationship including child attachment, and the wider contextual factors that impede parenting ability, such as parental depression, substance misuse, domestic violence, life events and daily hassles, and parental learning disabilities. All parenting trainees must provide group work for 14 weeks, a minimum of 21 days’ work including set up and running groups.


• Be familiar with the evidence base for PT for conduct problems including 2005 NICE Health Technology Assessment for Parent Training and Education for Childhood Conduct Disorders.

Assessable learning outcomes:

At the end of the course students will be able to demonstrate the following:

1. A critical understanding of:

• The principles of Social Learning theory (SLT).


• The aetiology, phenomenology, diagnostic classifications and epidemiological characteristics of conduct problems in children, ADHD, ODD, CD.


• The aetiology and phenomenology of parenting styles and how they relate to conduct problems in children.


• Knowledge of cognitive and behavioural principles, including ABC analysis, detailed behavioural descriptions of behavioural problems and analysis of operant rewards including parental attention for antisocial behaviour.


• The clinical research literature on PT for conduct problems in children (clinical trials and outcome studies) including predictors, moderators, and mediators of treatment.


• Systemic factors influencing parenting and conduct disorder in children, for example peers, school and community risk and resilience factors.


• Knowledge on how to successfully engage parents and children.


• Knowledge of implementation science, including which factors lead to better outcomes (e.g. therapist skill, agency readiness and commitment).

The above will be assessed via written assignments.

2. Competency in assessing:

The extent of the child’s conduct problems, including the presence of comorbid conditions especially ADHD, autistic traits, callous-unemotional traits, generalised learning disability, anxiety and depression and other current difficulties; the impact of symptoms on functioning (e.g. on family life, school attendance and attainment, and relationships with peers), any significant life events and family and relationship problems, etc.

• The quality of parenting: engagement, warmth, stimulation, sensitive responding, encouragement and praise, disciplinary strategies and supervision. Understanding of different types of maltreatment (neglect, physical, emotional, sexual abuse) including prevalence, presentation and assessment. When to refer to children’s social care, legal duties of practitioner in relation to safeguarding.


• The inter-parental relationship including domestic violence.


• Parental mentalhealth including depression, drug misuse, generalised learning disability, other conditions, predicaments or beliefs that inhibit parenting capacity; parental beliefs about the child, feelings towards him/her.


• Risk to the child of physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect; risks posed by the child to self and others.


• Suitability for group vs. individual PT or another modality of treatment.


• Formal and informal support systems available to parent or carer and child.
  
  Each of the above considerations to be informed by assessment using multiple informants (parent, child, teacher, other professionals).

The above will be assessed via feedback from supervisors.

3. Ability to engage with parents in both group and individual settings by showing an understanding of their viewpoint, ability to form a working alliance and set up agreed joint goals for treatment – assessed via feedback from supervisors and young people, and from supervisors.


4. Ability to identify the role of setting and prior events in triggering, and consequent events in maintaining the conduct problems and explain this model to parents and generate an understanding in parents of this process through exploration of their beliefs, discussion techniques, cognitive re-structuring and behavioural experiments – assessed via practical skills assessment of parent training.


5. Ability to provide a rationale for the use of homework which explains that home activities are a way of trying out ideas and practising new skills in their normal home/school environment – assessed via feedback from service-users/parents, and practical skills assessment.


6. An ability to create a verbal and diagrammatic formulation in collaboration with the parents and child/young person - assessed via practical skills assessment.


7. Abilityto structure sessions individually according to progress, or according to the group programme; ability to know how and when to catch up or go slower by reviewing progress. – assessed via written assignment.


8. Ability to run sessions that go through stages including play, praise and rewards, ignoring, limit setting and logical consequences for noncompliance, time-out – assessed via written assignment.


9. An ability to tailor the level of parent/carer involvement in sessions in line with the formulation of the specific problems which the parents face and the relationship between the child/young person and parent/carer. Assessed via written assignment and feedback from service user/carer.


10. An ability to help identify improvements by working with the parent to compare their current behaviour and link it to the child’s. Assessed via written assignment and feedback from service user/carer.


11. An ability to identify anyremaining difficulties and to consider how the parent could use techniques they have learned in therapy if problems re-emerge. Assessed via written assignment.


12. An ability to run parent groups successfully - assessed via reports of feedback from supervisors, from participants in group, and reports of clinical outcomes.


13. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving basic therapeutic problems with parents of children with conduct problems, including recognising the need for and enacting a re-assessment when therapy is failing to progress. Assessed via written assignment.


14. Ability to work individually with parents or carers, including in home-based settings and to develop appropriate assessment and treatment plans for families. Assessed via feedback from service user/carer and supervisor.

Additional outcomes:

• Students will gain confidence in the assessment and treatment of young people with conduct disorders using parent training.

• Academically, students will develop skills in critical appraisal of research and develop theory-practice links. 

• Reflective practice will be integrated as part of all training within the module.

Outline content:

The format will comprise:

The module will comprise of in-class teaching, clinical skills practice/supervised clinical practice, supervision in-service and independent study. Supervision will be provided by experienced and suitably trained therapists (e.g. supervisors will fulfil BABCP therapist accreditation criteria).

Note that certain teaching is mandatory (highlighted on timetable) for all students. Any student that misses a mandatory teaching session must attend a termly top-up meeting as scheduled in the timetable.

Clinical Practice

Running two groups for parents of at least six children over circa 14 weeks each (preparation and groups time will take one day per session, thus requiring a day a week for two lots of 14 weeks, say total 30 including assessment)

• Seeing at least three individual cases for 6-12 sessions, from assessment through treatment working individually with parents who are not part of a group, including work with the parent and the parent and child.  Parent and child work to be evidence based.


• Seeing at least three individual cases for 6-12 sessions, from assessment through treatment working individually with parents identified from the group, including work with parent, and the parent and child

Clinical Supervision

Each student will have clinical supervision weekly in a group of no more than 6 with occasional individual sessions in place of the group sessions.

• Recorded material from at least six individual cases and two groups should be included at some point during a significant majority of supervision sessions.


• At the end of the course when clinical work has been completed the supervisor will be asked to complete a pro-forma assessment form and indicate whether or not a student has reached a satisfactory level of clinical practice.

The teaching will be supplemented by an equivalent number of hours of clinical practice in the workplace under supervision of an experienced practitioner and supervisor.

Global context:

The content follows a national curriculum.

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:

The aims of this module will be achieved through a series of workshops, which will incorporate lectures, role-plays, and small group discussions. These will last from 9.30 to 4.30 p.m. Unless otherwise stated, all teaching days comprise of 50% clinical skills practice. In addition, they will be supplemented by e-learning material and experience of assessment and treatment of clients within the workplace. Teaching will be provided by course tutors, with some national and international experts where appropriate. 

Contact hours:

Teaching contact hours: average minimum of 100 hours; the total minimum teaching contact hours (including clinical skills workshops) summed across all course modules is over 200 hours.

•    Supervision contact hours: average minimum of 23 hours in University and 23 in the workplace; the total minimum supervision contact hours summed across all modules is 70 hours.

•    Total contact hours for this module will be a minimum of 600, to include lectures and clinical skills, university and work-based supervision, clinical skills practice and guided independent study.

Days will be split between in class theoretical teaching and clinical simulation, and in the workplace undertaking practice-based learning and supervision.

For the purposes of the table below

Seminars = University supe rvision

Lectures = Teaching & Clinical skills

Contact hours:

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Lectures	5.75	57.5	40.25
Seminars	2	6	16
Guided independent study:	157.5	157.5	157.5
Total hours by term	165.3	221.0	213.8
Total hours for module	600

Summative Assessment Methods:

Method	Percentage
Written assignment including essay	40
Oral assessment and presentation	20
Practical skills assessment	40

Summative assessment- Examinations:

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

The assessment has six parts:

1.) Written assignment 1 of a piece of an individual parent training treatment piece of work.

2.) A practical skills assessment of an individual parent training treatment session marked using a standardised rating scale. The recording is rated by the assessor and self-rated by the student using a standardised measure of clinical competence. The recording must be different from those clients submitted for PYMBAS and must be linked to written assignment 1 (item 1 above).

3.) Oral assessment and presentation of an individual parent training treatment piece of work.

4.) A practical skills assessment of a group parent training treatment session marked using a standardised rating scale. The recording is rated by the assessor and self-rated by the student using a standardised measure of clinical competence. The recording must be different from those clients submitted for PYMBAS and items 1 and 2 above.

5.) Written assignment 2 of running a parent training group.

These 5 are equally weighted. All assessments are assessed using a standardised measure and must pass at 50% with no autofail criteria.

6.) Portfolio elements including content relevant to all modules. This includes audit of cases, clinical log, training log, reports on feedback from supervisors and young people and/or parents on their experience of the therapy offered and report of the therapist’s clinical outcomes over the course.

This is marked as pass/fail.

Formative assessment methods:

Penalties for late submission:

The below information applies to students on taught programmes except those on Postgraduate Flexible programmes. Penalties for late submission, and the associated procedures, which apply to Postgraduate Flexible programmes are specified in the policy “Penalties for late submission for Postgraduate Flexible programmes”, which can be found here: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/cqsd-old-site-documents/penaltiesforlatesubmissionpgflexible.pdf
The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of five working days;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than five working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/cqsd-old-site-documents/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf
You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Assessment requirements for a pass:

50% in each piece of assessed work for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 above. The Portfolio must be marked as a pass. A minimum of 80% attendance is required.

A minimum of 80% face to face attendance is required for each module and attendance at all identified mandatory teaching (detailed on timetable); this is evidenced in the Portfolio assessment (assessment 6 above). If, for any reason, a student does not complete the required face to face attendance for the module, they will be required to attend teaching on the same topic with another cohort.

 

Level 7 students will be expected to evidence in-depth understanding of the topic and critical analytic skills in academic assessments.

Reassessment arrangements:

Students who do not obtain the required pass mark in the summative assessed work will be given the opportunity to resubmit, on one further occasion, any individual assessment that has been failed. The re-sit grade cannot exceed 50%. 

 

Completion of studies is dependent on employment within a CAMHS partnership of the Central and South CYP MH Collaborative and ongoing access to a CYP MH appropriate clinical caseload. Students must successfully pass all modules of the training programme. Therefore a student’s studies may be terminated if they are no longer working in a partnership service, no longer have access to an ongoing CYP MH appropriate caseload, or fail coursework at second attempt.

Additional Costs (specified where applicable):

1) Required text books: None

2) Specialist equipment or materials: None

3) Specialist clothing, footwear or headgear: None

4) Printing and binding: None

5) Computers and devices with a particular specification: None

6) Travel, accommodation and subsistence: None

Last updated: 30 March 2023