FIU Psychology Professors Daniel M. Bagner and Jonathan Comer along with their teams at FIU's Center for Children and Families led the first study of its kind, recently published in JAMA Pediatrics, to investigate how using videoconferencing to provide live coaching of caregiver-child interactions impacted children with developmental delay. They found the telehealth program led to fewer child behavior problems, like aggression, as well as improvements in the children's ability to follow their caregivers' directions and instructions — better preparing them for kindergarten.
They recruited 150 children with developmental delay and behavior problems from Early Steps — Florida's early intervention system. Many of the participants were from traditionally underserved families. More than 90% of the children belonged to ethnic or racial minority groups, and more than half lived in poverty.
"Even with the increase in telehealth mental health services during the pandemic, there's very little scientific evidence that this type of treatment works, especially for families with young children with developmental delay," Bagner said. "Our findings show the benefits of telehealth, and the promise it can have in expanding the service and care, especially for underserved families and children at risk for more severe problems later in life."
In addition to children showing reduced behavior problems after iPCIT, the results of the study showed that caregiver behavior improved — meaning there was a decrease in harsh and inconsistent discipline and an increase in positive behaviors, such as praise. Bagner says this finding is encouraging because these parenting behaviors have been shown to predict long-term positive outcomes in children with developmental delay, such as their ability to cope with frustrating situations and interact positively with their peers.
FIU 心理學教授丹尼爾·巴格納 (Daniel M. Bagner)和喬納森·科默 ( Jonathan Comer)以及他們在FIU 兒童和家庭中心的團隊 領導了同類研究中的第一項，最近發表在JAMA Pediatrics上，以調查如何使用視頻會議為看護者與兒童的互動提供現場指導發育遲緩的兒童。他們發現遠程醫療計劃減少了兒童的行為問題，如攻擊性，並提高了兒童聽從照顧者指示和指示的能力——更好地為他們上幼兒園做好準備。
他們從Early Steps（佛羅里達州的早期干預系統）招募了 150 名有發育遲緩和行為問題的兒童。許多參與者來自傳統上服務不足的家庭。90%以上的兒童屬於少數民族或少數民族，一半以上生活貧困。
“即使在大流行期間增加了遠程醫療心理健康服務，也很少有科學證據表明這種治療有效，特別是對於有發育遲緩的幼兒的家庭，”巴格納說。“我們的研究結果顯示了遠程醫療的好處，以及它在擴大服務和護理方面的前景，特別是對於服務不足的家庭和有可能在以後的生活中出現更嚴重問題的兒童。”
除了兒童在 iPCIT 後表現出的行為問題有所減少外，研究結果還表明，看護者的行為有所改善——這意味著嚴厲和不一致的管教行為有所減少，積極行為有所增加，例如表揚。巴格納說，這一發現令人鼓舞，因為這些養育行為已被證明可以預測發育遲緩兒童的長期積極成果，例如他們應對沮喪情況和與同齡人積極互動的能力。
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