© British Association of Social Workers
Over-chastisement, Child Non-compliance and Parenting Skills: A Behavioural Interventiaon by a Family Centre Social Worker
Diana Bourn works as a social worker in a Social Services Department Chile Care Operations Team, doing statuory work and leading termly parent training groups. She has worked in voluntary agencies, social services departments and a Social Services Department Family Centre. She has a CQSW and completed a post-qualifying course in cognitive-behavioural casework at Birminghan University in 1991.
Summary
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Abstract |
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This single-case study describes a behavioural intervention by a Family Centre social worker with a family whose two eldest children had been registered on the Child Protection Register following an incident of over-chastisement by their mother. Working in partnership with the parents. a behavioural assessment and intervention was undertaken over a four month periood. The assessment suggested that child non-compliance was a central problem behaviour and that mother and child were caught in a trap where each negatively reinforced the other's aversive, coercive behaviour, since these behaviours were successful in terminating the other's unwanted or aversive behaviours. The intervention aimed to increase child compliance and reduce child defiance using a positive reinforcement programme, and to increase the mother's child management skills using a parent training programme. The results showed that child compliance with maternal instructions increased significantly and that this was maintained at eleven month follow-up. Also, mother's use of command negative decreased significantly; this improvement was also maintained at eleven month follow-up.