Abstract
Factors influencing the reported effectiveness of interventions for antisocial behaviour are reviewed, with illustrative findings from a multicentre controlled trial of parenting groups. The merits and validity of different types of measuring instrument are discussed and it is concluded that it is desirable to have more than one informant (parent, teacher, observer) and at least one instrument with objective criteria, for example a semi-structured interview or direct observation. In the illustrative trial, the effect size was larger with semi-structured interviews than questionnaires, for conduct problems compared to hyperactivity symptoms, and for trial completers compared to the total sample it was intended to treat. The discrepancy between the encouraging results of trials conducted in university centres and the disappointing findings of those carried out in ‘real life’ clinics is discussed. The trial discussed here was conducted in health service clinics by regular staff but still reported good effect sizes. Measuring likely mediators and moderators so mechanisms of change can be investigated is discussed. In the trial, change was mediated through acquisition of parenting skills but not through maternal depression or criticism directed at the child, even though these were reduced by the intervention. This suggests that programmes that impart skills are more likely to be effective than those that offer counselling only.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abidin RR (1995) Parenting Stress Index. Psychological Assessment Resources Inc, Odessa, Florida
Achenbach TM (1991) Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18 and 1991 Profile. Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, Vermont
Angold A, Costello EJ, Farmer EMZ, Burns BJ, Erkanli A (1999) Impaired but undiagnosed. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 38: 129–137
Angold A, Costello EJ (2000) The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA). Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 39: 39–48
Bank L, Duncan T, Patterson GR, Reid J (1993) Parent and teacher ratings in the assessment and prediction of antisocial and delinquent behaviours. Journal of Personality 61: 693–709
Barkley RA, Shelton TL, Crosswait C, Moorehouse M, Fletcher K, Barrett S, Jenkins L, Metevia L (2000) Multi-method pyscho-educational intervention for preschool children with disruptive behaviour: preliminary results at post-treatment. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry 41: 319–332
Bendixen M, Olweus D (1999) Measurement of antisocial behaviour in early adolescence and adolescence: psychometric properties and substantive findings. Criminal Behaviour & Mental Health 9: 323–354
Bickman L (1996) A continuum of care: more is not always better. American Psychologist 5: 599–701
Bird HR, Canino G, Rubio-Stipec M, Ribera J (1998) Estimates of the prevalence of childhood maladjustment in a community survey in Puerto Rico. Archives of General Psychiatry 45: 1120–1126
Boggs SR, Eyeberg S, Reynolds LA (1990) Concurrent validity of the Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology 19: 75–78
Boyle MH, Offord DR, Racine YA, Szatmari P, Sanford M, Fleming JE (1997) Adequacy of interviews vs Checklists for classifying childhood psychiatric disorder based on parent reports. Archives of General Psychiatry 54: 793–799
Carkhuff RR (1969) Critical variables in effective counselor training. Journal of Counseling Psychology 16: 238–245
Chamberlain P, Reid P (1987) Parent observation and report of child symptoms. Behavioral Assessment 9: 97–109
Cohen J (1988) Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioural Sciences. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale
Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (1999) Initial impact of the fast track prevention trial for conduct problems: 1. The high-risk sample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 67: 631–647
Dyrborg J, Warborg Larsen F, Nielsen J, Byman J, Buhl Neilsen B, Gautre-Delay F (2000) The Children’s Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) and Global Assessment of Psychological Disability (GAPD) in clinical practice — substance and reliability as judged by intraclass correlations. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 9: 195–201
Forehand RL, McMahon RJ (1981) Helping the Noncompliant Child. A Clinician’s Guide to Parent Training. Guilford Press, London
Gardner FE, Sonuga-Barke EJS, Soyal K (1999) Parents anticipating misbehaviour: an observational study of strategies parents use to prevent conflict with behaviour problem children. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry & Allied Disciplines 40: 1185–1196
Goodman R (1997) The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: a research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 38: 581–586
Goodman R (1999) The extended version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a guide to child psychiatric caseness and consequence burden. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 40: 791–801
Goodman R, Ford T, Richards H, Gatward R, Meltzer H (2000) The Development and Well-Being Assessment: description and initial validation of an integrated assessment of child and adolescent psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 41: 645–655
Goodman R, Meltzer H, Bailey V (1998) The strengths and difficulties questionnaire: a pilot study on the validity of the self-report version. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 7: 125–130
Goodman R, Scott S (1997) Child Psychiatry. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford
Goodman R, Scott S (1999) Comparing the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Child Behavior Checklist: is small beautiful? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 27: 17–24
Gowers S, Bailey-Rogers SJ, Shore A, Levine W (2000) The Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for child and adolescent mental health. Child Psychology & Psychiatry Review 5: 50–56
Greenwood PW, Model KE, Rydell CP, Chiesa J (1996) Diverting Children from a Life of Crime: Measuring Costs and Benefits: RAND, Santa Monica, CA
Henggeler SW, Melton GB, Brondino MJ, Scherer DG, Hanley JH (1997) Multisystemic therapy with violent and chronic juvenile offenders and their families: the role of treatment fidelity in successful dissemination. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 65: 831–833
Hodges K (1993) Structured interviews for assessing children. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 34: 49–68
Jacobson NS, Truax P (1991) Clinical significance: a statistical approach to defining meaningful change in psychotherapy research. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology 59: 12–19
Knapp M (1997) Economic evaluations and interventions for children and adolescents with mental health problems. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 38: 3–25
Knapp M, Scott S, Davies J (1999) The cost of antisocial behaviour in younger children. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 4: 457–473
McMahon RJ, Tiedemann GL, Forehand R, Griest DL (1984) Parental satisfaction with parent training to modify child noncompliance. Behaviour Therapy 15: 295–303
Meltzer H, Gatward R, Goodman R, Ford T (2000) The Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in Great Britain. Office of National Statistics, London
Mirtlees-Black C, Mayhew P, Percy A (1996) The 1996 British Crime Survey England and Wales. Home Office Research and Statistics Directorate, London
Patterson GR (1980) Mothers: The unacknowledged victims. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 45
Patterson GR (1982) Coercive Family Process, A Social Learning Approach. Castalia Publishing Company, Eugene, Oregon
Patterson GR, Chamberlain P, Reid JB (1982) A comparative evaluation of a parent-training program. Journal of Behaviour Therapy 13: 638–650
Patterson GR, Reid JB, Dishion T (1992) Antisocial Boys. Castalia Publishing Company, Eugene, Oregon
Puig-Antich J, Chambers W (1978) The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (Kiddie-SADS). Unpublished manuscript available through the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York
Robinson A, Eyberg SM (1981) The dyadic parent-child interaction coding system: standardisation and validation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 49: 245–250
Rutter M, Giller H, Hagell A (1998) Antisocial Behaviour by Young People: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Rutter M, Tizard J, Whitmore K (1970) (eds) Education, Health and Behaviour. Longmans, London
Scott S (1996) Measuring oppositional and aggressive behaviour. Child Psychology and Psychiatry Review 1:104–109
Scott S, Knapp M, Henderson J, Maughan B (2001) Financial cost of social exclusion: follow up study of antisocial children into adulthood. BMJ 323: 191–194
Scott S, Spender Q (Submitted) Which families benefit from parenting programmes? Predictors of outcome from a multicentre trial
Scott S, Spender Q, Doolan M, Jacobs B, Aspland H (2001) Multicentre controlled trial of parenting groups for childhood antisocial behaviour in clinical practice. BMJ 323: 194–197
Shaffer D, Gould M, Brasic J, Ambrosini P, Fisher P, Bird H, Aluwahlia S (1983) A children’s global assessment scale (CGAS). Archives of General Psychiatry 40: 1228–1231
Shaffer D, Schwab-Stone M, Fisher P, Cohen P, Piacentini J, Davies M, Conners CK, Regier D (1993) The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children — Revised Version (DISC-R): I. Preparation, field-testing, interrater reliability, and acceptability. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 32: 643–650
Silberg J, Meyer J, Pickles A, Simonoff E, Eaves L, Hewitt J, Maes H, Rutter M (1996) Heterogeneity among juvenile antisocial behaviours: findings from the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioural Development. In: Bock GR, Goode J (eds) Genetics of Criminal and Antisocial Behaviour (pp 76–92). London, CIBA Foundation
Taylor E, Chadwick O, Heptinstall E, Danckaerts M (1996) Hyperactivity and conduct problems as risk factors for adolescent development. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 35: 1213–1226
Taylor E, Sandberg S, Thorley G, Giles S (1991) The Epidemiology of Childhood Hyperactivity. Maudsley Monographs: Oxford University Press, Oxford
Taylor E, Schachar R, Thorley G, Wieselberg M (1986) Conduct disorder and hyperactivity — A separation of hyperactivity and anti-social conduct in British child psychiatric patients. British Journal of Psychiatry 149: 760–767
Taylor T (1999) The Child and Adolescent Disruptive Behaviour Inventory available from the author, Oregon Research Institute, Oregon, USA
Titman P, Smith M, Graham P (1997) Assessment of the quality of life of children. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 2: 597–606
Wahler RG, Dumas JE (1989) Attentional problems in dysfunctional mother-child interactions: an interbehavioral model. Psychological Bulletin 105: 116–130
Waltz J, Addis ME, Koerner K, Jacobson NS (1993) Testing the integrity of a psychological protocol: assessment of adherence and competence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 61: 620–630
Webster-Stratton C (1994) Advancing videotape parent training: a comparison stydy. J Consulting and Clinical Psychology 62: 583–593
Webster-Stratton C (1994) Parenting a child with conduct disorders: families under siege. In: Webster-Stratton C, Herbert M (eds) Troubled Families, Problem Children (pp 43–72). J Wiley, Chichester
Webster-Stratton C (1989) Systematic comparison of consumer satisfaction of three cost-effective parent training programs for conduct problem children. Behaviour Therapy 20: 103–115
Weisz JR, Donenberg GR, Han SS (1995) Bridging the gap between laboratory and clinic in child and adolescent psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 63: 688–701
WHO (1992) The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines. World Health Organisation, Geneva
WHO (1996) Multiaxial Classification of Child and Adoleseent Psychiatric Disorders: The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders in Children and Adolescents. World Health Organisation, Geneva
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Scott, S. Deciding whether interventions for antisocial behaviour work: Principles of outcome assessment, and practice in a multicentre trial. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 10 (Suppl 1), S59–S70 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s007870170007
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s007870170007