Intensive family-based services program: Preventing and improving coping mechanisms in children abused and neglected through PCIT, self-management skills, and intensive child-play counseling

This applied dissertation was designed to provide training to Child Protective Investigators (CPIs) so that they may provide families on their caseload with strength-based family services. The purpose of these services was to help CPIs palliate further trauma to children at-risk. It was determined that investigators did not view themselves as family service practitioners---yet they were usually the first ones to respond to child abuse and neglect than any other service provider. This program assisted CPIs in obtaining the skills they needed to decrease misbehaviors and to increase positive behaviors at home and in school when working with abused and/or neglected children and their families. The training package was also geared towards preventing emotional and behavioral disorders in children by providing CPIs with effective skills to help parents improve their interactions with their children through proactive parenting. This study sought to ascertain if CPIs were successful in the implementation of specific strategies aimed at helping at-risk children and their families and also looked into the degree to which they reported ease of implementation and overall satisfaction with the training results.; The researcher provided training to CPIs in parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT), self-management skills training, and intensive child play therapy so that these professionals may become more effective in increasing positive interactions between parents and their children. These strategies also helped these professionals by increasing their efficacy and effectiveness in increasing positive interactions between parents and their children in an effort to palliate the development of further emotional and behavioral problems in young children at-risk.; Most of the CPIs who participated in this research found that most of their clients showed a significant decrease on the Domestic Violence Inventory (DVI) after the implementation of the IFBS program. In addition, most of the participants found that the number of court cases on families engaged in the IFBS program decreased significantly. CPIs also felt that the children of parents who participated in the IFBS program appeared more resilient than children who did not. In addition, most of the participants agreed that children whose parents received the IFBS intervention were more attentive in class, negative disruptive behaviors decreased and children had less temper tantrums in the classroom. Most participants felt that the training was useful as a tool to assist them in increasing pro-social behaviors observed in the children and youth they worked with. In addition, more than half of the research participants saw a decrease in the number of placements or removals on families who received the IFBS intervention than families who did not. All of the goals in this applied dissertation were met.