PCIT is an evidence-based treatment designed to provide parents with skills to promote meaningful and lasting change in their children, while also honoring their child’s strengths and the parent-child relationship. Parents then use these skills to turn everyday interactions with their children into therapeutic ones.

PCIT involves the use of live coaching sessions so that parents aren’t only discussing strategies with their clinician, but are readily applying them with their child while receiving expert support and feedback. PCIT is typically delivered in two modules. The first module of treatment supports parents in further enhancing their relationship with their child while also developing skills to promote the behaviors they want their child to exhibit. The second module of treatment continues this work while supporting parents in facilitating their child’s practice of flexibility and emotion management, while also setting and enforcing limits around unsafe behaviors and non-compliance. 

Yes! Over 40 years of research and hundreds of studies have shown that PCIT can radically reduce challenging behaviors in children as well as stress levels in families. Research has demonstrated that PCIT has a very large and positive effect on children’s disruptive behaviors.

Effect sizes over .2 are considered small, over .5 are considered medium, and over .8 are considered large. Research summarizing the findings of PCIT studies have evidenced its effect size as 1.05 – 1.13 (e.g., Girard & Kuhlman, 2015; Lineman et al., 2017; Zhang & Shen, 2020). By comparison, research summarizing the findings of child-centered play therapy studies have evidenced its effect size as .51 – .68 (e.g., Leblanc & Richie, 2001; Ray et al., 2015; Ray et al., 2019).

PCIT therapists collect data throughout treatment to ensure it is moving at the right pace and having the desired effect.

Yes!

Research has shown that PCIT delivered by telehealth is as or more effective and satisfactory as compared to in-person PCIT (Comer et al., 2017).

Whether in person or by telehealth, PCIT works through parent-child interactions and not therapist-child interactions. For example, when PCIT is provided in person, the therapist is behind a one-way mirror sharing information with the parent through headphones as they interact with their child.

Families often enjoy telehealth PCIT because of the convenience as well as because they are learning the treatment in a more naturalistic setting.

The core parent skills in PCIT do not involve sticker charts or prizes. Dr. LaFleur may add such tools for very specific behaviors or moments of the day.

For children who demonstrate unsafe behaviors or power struggles, PCIT includes components that teach parents to set and enforce limits with their child, and in a manner that does not undermine a child’s sense of security in the parent-child relationship.

No studies have evidenced PCIT harming parent-child attachment, and some studies have evidenced PCIT as improving parent-child secure attachment (e.g., Timmer et al., 2005; Timmer et al., 2018). 

Research has evidenced PCIT as being safe and effective for children who have experienced trauma or abuse. For more information, please visit The National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s PCIT fact page.