What is the impact of psychological treatment for children with common behavior, toilet, school, and psychosomatic problems?
Description of the study population: Subjects were 93 children (59 boys, 34 girls) between the ages of 1 and 15 (average age 6.4) scheduled for evaluation appointments in the Behavioral Pediatrics Service of an HMO. Design: A same-size comparison group was selected from the HMO membership using the computerized patient database and encounter system matched on age, gender, and completion of a pediatric primary care encounter on the same day as a treated child. Parents of treated children were contacted 3 or 6 months after termination of treatment for followup information. Description of intervention: Doctoral-level pediatric psychologists or predoctoral clinical psychology interns with supervised treatment responsibility provided one to six targeted therapy sessions about 50 minutes in length to children experiencing common behavior and emotional problems along with their parents. Using a behavioral model of therapy, parents were helped to define problems in terms of the childs behavior
