EBP of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, Essay Example

EBP of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy in the article of Chaffin et al. (2004)

Evidence-based practice is indeed a feasible, effective way of bridging the gap between research and practice in the field of child maltreatment and abuse; as Chaffin and Friedrich (2004) admitted, EBP tries to bring services more in line with the best available clinical science to increase their efficiency. One should keep in mind that child maltreatment is a systemic evil that stems from a range of biological, social, and psychological problems deeply rooted in one’s family. These roots may stretch to several generations of wrong education and up-bringing, violence, poverty, etc. Hence, there is a need to connect practice with theory – the research on child maltreatment and ways of tackling it is intensely conducted nowadays, and the findings of recent studies may effectively inform the practices and policies directed against child maltreatment.

For instance, as the article of Chaffin et al. (2004) indicated, the application of parent-child interaction therapy is an effective intervention strategy for physically abusive parents. The researchers conducted a longitudinal study in which they performed the comparative assessment of the parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT), the combination of PCIT with individualized enhanced services, and the standard community-based parenting group. Their study indicated that though the number of re-reports was still rather high, the percentage of re-reports of family violence reduced by more than two times. Therefore, the study indicated that the individualized enhanced services did not produce any significant effect on the quality of PCIT and reduction of family violence, while PCIT if compared to the standard community group intervention was a very effective technique of managing home violence. These findings are likely to inform the policies arranged around reducing the level of violence in families, and are likely to help allocate funds more carefully and more thoughtfully to the most effective interventions, which can save the state budget and result in greater service effectiveness.