Speech and language therapists’ views on parents’ engagement in Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)

Abstract

Background Parents’ play an essential role in Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) as the primary agent of intervention with their child. Unfortunately, speech and language therapists (SLTs) report that parents’ engagement is challenging when conducting PCIT. Although focusing on and stimulating the engagement of parents, when needed, can increase the success of PCIT, little is known about what factors influence parent engagement. Aims To explore SLTs’ views about the factors that facilitate or pose barriers to parents’ engagement in PCIT. Methods & Procedures A secondary analysis of 10 interview transcripts about SLTs’ views on delivering PCIT with parents of children with developmental language disorder (DLD) was conducted. Codes from the original analysis where checked for their relevance to parents’ engagement by the first author. Potential themes were identified iteratively with all authors. Outcomes & Results Four themes were identified in the SLTs’ description of their experiences with the engagement of parents: mutual understanding, creating a constructive relationship between the SLT and parent, parental empowerment, and barriers. It became clear that SLTs were focusing on different aspects of engagement. Conclusions & Implications This study makes an initial contribution to our understanding of SLTs’ view of parents’ engagement and about what stimulates parent engagement or effects disengagement. SLTs play an important role in supporting parents to engage and stay engaged with therapy. Training SLTs on how best to engage parents, focusing on mutual understanding, creating constructive relationships between the SLT and parent, parental empowerment, and barriers, is necessary. However, more research is needed on how to train relevant skills in SLTs. Clearer definitions of engagement would improve understanding and judgements about how best to support parents.

Exploring the complexity of how families are engaged in early speech–language pathology intervention using video‐reflexive ethnography

“…Research which has identified that incongruent expectations about how families will be involved may negatively affect engagement (Klatte et al . 2019, Skeat and Roddam 2019) further strengthen these recommendations. An ongoing need to negotiate roles throughout intervention has also been identified, and it has been suggested that SLPs should regularly ‘check in’ with families and ‘follow their lead’ regarding how they would like to be involved (Watts Pappas et al .…”

“…A systematized review of existing research related to engagement (i.e., family investment and involvement) in early SLP intervention found that families become 'engaged' (i.e., ready and empowered to take an active role in intervention, both inside and outside sessions) as they work together with clinicians over time (Melvin et al 2019). Other studies have also revealed that there are multiple aspects that make up an understanding of engagement in this setting (e.g., Klatte et al 2019, Melvin et al 2020. In particular, Melvin et al (2020) conducted a study where Australian speech-language pathologists (SLPs) described characteristics of families they considered to be 'engaged' in early intervention.…”

“…Further research is also warranted as current evidence regarding parents and families' views on their involvement in early SLP intervention is lacking (Law et al 2019). Previous studies have recommended that a more rounded picture of engagement would be achieved by including family members in research (Klatte et al 2019, Melvin et al 2020. Therefore, this study explores how different families are engaged in early SLP intervention by investigating the views of both families and SLPs working together in early intervention services using video-reflexive ethnography.…”

“…Other studies have also revealed that there are multiple aspects that make up an understanding of engagement in this setting (e.g., Klatte et al . 2019, Melvin et al . 2020).…”

“…Previous studies have recommended that a more rounded picture of engagement would be achieved by including family members in research (Klatte et al . 2019, Melvin et al . 2020).…”