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This article reports on the first health technology appraisal conducted jointly between the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). The appraisal systematically reviewed evidence for the clinical effectiveness of parent‐training/education programmes in the management of children with conduct disorders. This appraisal is highly topical in the light of cross‐cutting policy agendas concerned with increasing parenting capacity. It is also methodologically innovative in its approach to synthesising the meta‐analysis of trial evidence on outcomes of programmes with qualitative evidence on process and implementation. The appraisal found parent‐training/education programmes to be effective in the management of children with conduct disorders, and it identifies the generic characteristics of effective programmes. It is concluded that this approach offers an exemplar for the development of systematic reviewing of complex psychosocial interventions that are relevant to integrated children's services.

This study examined the effectiveness of the Triple P‐Positive Parenting Program in a government child health service delivery context with Chinese parents in Hong Kong. Specifically, the study sought to identify pre‐intervention variables that might predict programme outcomes such as level of clinical improvement and programme completion. Participants were 661 parents of pre‐school and primary aged children participating in a group version of the Triple P‐Positive Parenting Program. There were significant decreases in disruptive child behaviours, levels of parenting stress, general stress and anxiety and an increase in parenting sense of competence. Greater change in reports of child behaviour problems was related to lower levels of family income, new immigrant family status, and higher pre‐intervention levels of parenting stress. The present study provides a profile of parents who are most likely to benefit from parent training programmes.

This article reports on three pragmatic randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to help children at risk of conduct disorder (CD): two involved the Incredible Years (IY) BASIC parent programme and the other concerned the IY teacher programme. All three interventions took place in regular service settings in North‐ and Mid‐Wales. In all three studies, staff from the provider agency delivered the programme and participated in RCT evaluations in which participants were randomly allocated to intervention or waitinglist control conditions. After a brief introduction to research into the prevention or treatment of CD, and the issues to be considered by services in selecting and delivering interventions, this article summarises the structure, content and evidence base of the IY programmes. The three Welsh studies are briefly described before exploring what factors contributed to service participation in the trials and the benefits and lessons learned in undertaking them.

Evidence‐based practices (EBPs) are increasingly being implemented in real‐world settings. While intervention effectiveness is dependent on fidelity, interventions are often adapted to service settings according to the needs of stakeholders at multiple levels. This study aims to examine the naturalistic implementation of The Incredible Years (IY) parenting programme in a residential substance abuse treatment programme for pregnant and parenting women.

The study took place in a residential substance abuse treatment programme serving pregnant and parenting women and their children. Participants included 120 female clients. The primary IY facilitator was a master's level counselling psychologist. In person observations of IY sessions were completed by a trained bachelor's level anthropologist. Ethnographic field notes were collected and then coded in keeping with a priori themes and to identify emergent themes. The Parent Group Leader Checklist was used to evaluate quality and integrity of the IY basic parent programme.

Quantitative analyses indicate that fidelity varied by type of checklist activity. Specifically, adherence to the IY programme was highest in beginning topic activities, setup, and home activity review, and lowest in role play, vignettes, and wrap‐up activities. Qualitative analyses revealed a number of adaptations in implementation of IY. Adaptations fit into two broad categories: modification of programme delivery and modification of programme content. Within each of these categories modifications included organisation‐driven adaptations, provider‐driven adaptations, and consumer‐driven adaptations.

Changes to evidence‐based practice generally take two forms – adaptations consistent with model intent and theoretical approach and changes that represent drift from core elements of the EBP. The challenge for implementation science is to develop frameworks in which models can be adapted enough to make them viable for the service context (or the service context adapted to fit the model), yet avoid drift and maintain fidelity. Attending to the complexities of adaptation prior to and during implementation in a planned way is likely to help organisations better utilise EBPs to meet their unique needs while maintaining fidelity.

The paper shows that identification of types of intervention adaptations and drift allows for consideration of systematic approaches, frameworks, and processes to increase adherence during EBP implementation in community mental health and substance abuse treatment settings.

Families referred to child welfare for maltreatment and neglect are frequently mandated to attend parenting programmes. Evidence‐based parenting programmes (EBPs) are under‐utilised or not delivered with fidelity for this population. The Incredible Years (IY) parenting programme is an EPB that has been proven to reduce harsh parenting, increase positive discipline and nurturing parenting, reduce conduct problems and improve children's social competence. There is also promising preliminary evidence that IY is an effective intervention for families involved in child welfare and for foster parents. This article describes how the updated IY parenting basic programme is delivered with fidelity to this population.

This paper describes the author's work during 35 years as a clinical psychologist in the NHS in Wales working mainly with conduct disordered children and their families. It describe how from initially working within an applied behaviour analysis (ABA) framework with individual families she subsequently established and researched the group based Incredible Years (IY) parent programme in Wales and led a Wales‐wide dissemination of the IY programmes.

The paper provides a case study example of the use of the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) criteria for translational research, that is research that can be applied successfully in the real world.

Many of the challenges were overcome through the inclusion of strategies to maximise effectiveness with differing populations, and by gaining the support of government and local services.

The paper discusses the challenges of taking an evidence‐based programme to scale.

The purpose of this paper is to consider evidence on the effectiveness of preschool social and emotional interventions in preschool contexts and focuses on the application of an implementation framework described in relation to the Preschool Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum. Active parent involvement and engagement were not included in the implementation but preschool establishments spontaneously involved parents or parents sought involvement, creating innovations in delivery and context. The need for structured parent involvement and its impact are considered in relation to evidence on integrated programmes and different models of parent involvement.

This paper reports on an interim evaluation of practitioners’ and parents’ experiences of the implementation processes, focusing on the involvement and engagement of parents.

Evidence for the rationale for parent engagement in this context is substantiated. The Preschool PATHS curriculum is known to impact on children’s social competence, problem behaviour and, in the early school context, attainment. However the programme does not target parent skill directly or address parent behaviours that may affect children’s social competence and behaviour. It is suggested that the programme needs to be extended to provide structured input for parents via training and information similar to that provided for practitioners. A pilot study using integrated parent training material and supported by an implementation framework is advised.

The paper describes a flexible, evidence-based framework supporting replicable processes useful to service providers across programmes and contexts. An “innovation” (a term used to describe deviations from programme fidelity or implementation standards) is explored which affected the creation of parallel parent involvement strategies but not the delivery of the programme itself which was carefully monitored. While adaptations and deviations are inevitable, some flag up areas where development or issues of contextual fit need to be addressed and might, as in this case, inform better integration of evidence and practice development.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the utility of an evidence-based suite of programmes, The Incredible Years (IY), to enhance outcomes for children using a parent-teacher partnership model.

A review of the broad evidence base for the IY parent, teacher and child programmes, uniquely focusing on the inter-relationships between home and school contexts.

Evidence suggests that it is beneficial to parents, teachers and children to deliver IY programmes applying a multi-modal approach.

This paper, read in conjunction with other contributions in this volume, demonstrates the growing viability of partnership strategies that support children, their families and teachers to enhance school readiness, and promote positive child outcomes.

The United Nation’s Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006 declared the need for countries to facilitate the right of individuals with disabilities to their full inclusion and participation within communities across the globe. The community clearly plays a necessary role in the overall preparation and quality of life of students with disabilities and their families. The present chapter will specifically address the role of the community within instructional programming and parent advocacy. First, the chapter discusses the importance of integrating community experiences within inclusive K-12 preparation for students with disabilities for the purpose of enhancing students’ postsecondary outcomes. Second, the chapter reviews the role of community organizations in supporting parental advocacy for effective inclusive programming while highlighting the work of two specific community agencies. These sections are followed by concluding comments emphasizing the role of schools and community-based organizations in supporting inclusive education, community-based instruction, and family advocacy for students with disabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of directive programmes led by professionals where parents were taught specific parenting knowledge and strategies (Triple P – Positive Parenting Program) and non-directive parenting programmes in the form of mutual-aid support group as a universal prevention programme.

This study employed a randomised controlled trial design. Participants included 92 Hong Kong Chinese parents with preschool children recruited from eight kindergartens and a local church. They were randomised into Group Triple P, non-directive group and control group. They completed measures on their perception of child behaviour problems and their parental stress before and after intervention.

At post-intervention, results indicated significantly greater decrease in child disruptive behaviours among participants in the Triple P group than those in the non-directive group and control group while no significant group difference was found between the latter two groups. No significant difference was found in post-intervention parental stress level among the three groups.

This study provides empirical evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of a directive parenting programme vs a non-directive one.