Graduation Year

2010

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Granting Department

Psychological and Social Foundations

Major Professor

Linda Raffaele Mendez, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Kathy Bradley-Klug, Ph.D

Committee Member

Shannon Suldo, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Jeffrey Kromrey, Ph.D.

Keywords

parent involvement, intervention, consultation, anti-social behavior, training

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to determine the rate at which school psychologists engage in parent training/education with the parents of children with chronic behavior problems and to determine the relationships between school psychologists’ demographic variables, professional practice, training, and perception of barriers and their engagement in such activities. These variables have been found to be related to types of service delivery practices and were hypothesized to also be related to the rate and type of engagement in parent training/education activities by school psychologists.

Five hundred school psychologists were randomly sampled from the membership of the National Association of School Psychologists and mailed a survey. One-hundred-fifteen (23%) of the targeted school psychologists returned a usable survey. Five school psychologists indicated that they engaged in parent training/education at least weekly and volunteered to engage in a phone interview with the researcher. The phone interview was conducted in order to gather more specific information regarding facilitators of the school psychologists’ engagement in parent training/education with the parents of children with chronic behavior problems.

Data were analyzed using descriptive, correlational, linear, and qualitative methods. Results indicated that school psychologists’ rate of engagement in parent training interventions with the parents of children with chronic behavior problems occurred on average less than once per semester. The data also suggested that intensity of training and perception of barriers were most strongly related to school psychologists’ engagement in parent training/education activities. Other variables including school psychologists’ perception of available time, problem solving skills, and ability to communicate with school-based administrators also were indicated as impactful on school psychologists’ engagement in parent training/education activities. These findings have important implications for school psychology training programs. Specifically, school psychology training programs may wish to examine the intensity of training provided to trainees in not only parent training/education but also in time management, problem solving, and consultation.

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