The Incredible Years: A Trouble-Shooting Guide for Parents of Children Aged 3-8

Product Information

The purpose of this study was to pilot-test the effect of the Incredible Years (IY) parenting program among Korean American mothers. First-generation Korean American mothers of young children were randomly assigned to the IY intervention or to a control group. Mothers reported on discipline styles (positive, appropriate, and harsh), level of acculturation, and their child's outcomes (behavioral problems and social competence) at pre-, post-, and 1-year follow-up intervals. Measures included the Parent Practices Interview, Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory, Social Competence Scale, and a modified version of the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (ARSMA-II). After completing the program, intervention group mothers significantly increased use of positive discipline as compared to control group mothers. Among intervention group mothers, high acculturated mothers significantly increased appropriate discipline whereas low-acculturated mothers significantly decreased harsh discipline. In the 1-year follow-up, intervention group mothers maintained the significant effect for positive discipline. Limitations include the small sample size and the larger number of drop-outs in the control group. Menting, A. T. A., Orobio de Castro, B., & Matthys, W. (2013). Effectiveness of the Incredible Years parent training to modify disruptive and prosocial child behavior: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 33, 901–913. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2013.07.006. Incredible Years parent training support for foster carers in Wales: A multi-centre feasibility study. Child: Care, Health and Development, 37(2), 233–243. The Incredible Years programme has been implemented in numerous places and contexts. In Manchester (England) the intervention has been delivered by the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust’s Children and Parents Service (CAPS). In the city, at least 20 per cent of the city’s population of 34,000 under-fives is at risk of having or developing behavioural problems.

Conduct problems have been shown to be the single most important predicting factor of later chronic antisocial behaviour problems. These can include poor mental health, academic underachievement, early school leaving, teenage parenthood, delinquency, unemployment and substance abuse. Many young people displaying these behaviour problems go on to engage in youth offending, family violence, and ultimately serious adult crime.

Manuals and Training

The Incredible Years Parents, Teachers and Children’s Series are evidence-based programs evaluated in numerous randomized control group studies by the developer and other independent researchers to prevent and treat behavior problems in young children. This series was selected as a Blueprints for Violence Prevention program in 2001 because it was shown to reduce risk factors for violence and crime. Additionally the programs have been shown to promote protective factors such as positive parenting and teaching focused on strengthening children’s social and emotional competence and school readiness. The Basic Parent Training Program is 14 weeks for prevention populations, and 18 - 20 weeks for treatment. The Child Training Program is 18-22 weeks. For treatment version, the Advance Parent Program is recommended as a supplemental program. Basic plus Advance takes 26-30 weeks. The Child Prevention Program is 20 to 30 weeks and may be spaced over two years. The Teachers Program is 5 to 6 full-day workshops spaced over 6 to 8 months. Delivery Settings Improved parent-child interactions, building positive relationships and attachment, improved parental functioning, less harsh and more nurturing parenting, and increased parental social support and problem solving The Incredible Years parenting programme tended to show a positive effect on harsh and inconsistent parenting. This is based on high strength evidence. This included reductions in corporal punishment, threatening and shouting.

The preliminary effect of a parenting program for Korean American mothers: A randomized controlled experimental study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 45, 1261-1273. Incredible Years parenting programme was developed by Carolyn Webster-Stratton in 1997. It is designed to be a community based programme to help parents of children with ADHD, conduct problems and promote emotional and social development, emotional regulation, and improve academic success. Findings also suggest equal benefit to those families experiencing social disadvantage, and those who don’t. This suggests that this intervention will neither increase or decrease existing social inequalities in child disruptive behaviour.

The curriculum includes over 60 lesson plans for use by teachers for children aged 3-8 (the curriculum is broken up into three “levels” for different developmental stages). The training also includes classroom management strategies that enhance children’s prosocial skills and reduce behavior plans.

This summary comes from the original systematic review: Gardner, F., Leijten, P., Mann, J., Landau, S., Harris, V., Beecham, J., ... & Scott, S. (2017). Could scale-up of parenting programmes improve child disruptive behaviour and reduce social inequalities? Using individual participant data meta-analysis to establish for whom programmes are effective and cost-effective. Public Health Research, 5(10)

Webster-Stratton, C. (2015). The Incredible Years® parent programs: Methods and principles that support program fidelity. In J. J. Ponzetti & J. J. Ponzetti (Eds.), Evidence-based parenting education: A global perspective (pp. 143–160). New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis.