Does Teaching Problem-Solving Skills Matter? An Evaluation of Problem-Solving Skills Training for the Treatment of Social and Behavioral Problems in Children

Abstract

Parent training combined with problem solving skills training has been proposed as a comprehensive treatment for childhood oppositional behaviors, poor child social skills, and parental stress . The current study compared Parent Training + Problem Solving Skills Training with a Parent Training + nondirective condition. Parents of 32 children first attended Parent Training . After the parents completed Parent Training, children were randomly assigned to individual therapy in either a Problem Solving Skills Training condition or a nondirective condition. Data comparisons between the groups were made at postindividual therapy and at 6-week follow-up. Results indicated that children in the Problem Solving Skills Training condition improved more than their counterparts regarding parent-reported, parent-observed, and child-reported social skills. Children in the Problem Solving Skills Training condition also improved more lV than children in the nondirective condition on parent-observed oppositional behaviors ; however , children in the non-d irective condition demonstrated more improvement than their Problem Solving Skills Training counterparts on parent-reported measures of oppositional behaviors . There were no differences between the groups regarding parental stress . The clinical implications and limitations of these findings are discussed. (269 pages) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Most of the time, this project seemed far too ambitious for its own good. It was only after I defended my proposal that I fully realized how much I would depend on collaboration from others. As such, several acknowledgments should be made to recognize those who spent their time and talents helping me bring this project to fruition. V First, I would like to thank my committee chair, Gretchen Gimpel Peacock, forall her help and support. I am indebted to her willingness to help me revise numerous drafts and make something coherent from the data. The clarity and direction of the fi:nal document are due in no small part to her efforts. Similarly, I would also like to thank the members of my defense committee who helped me weed out the relevant from the less-than-relevant. I am also indebted to Dr. Gimpel Peacock for giving me the funding so that I could successfully recruit participant families to the study. The majority of those recruited came via newspaper advertisements, wruch would not have been run had she not been willing to part with grant funding . Many graduate students also volunteered their time to act as student therapists. Although I attempted to lure them with "a great clinical experience" and the promise of brief progress notes, it was always clear that they were the ones doing me the favor. After all, time is a great conunodity in graduate school. Therefore, a special thank you to those who acted as student therapists:

Online assessment of problem-solving skills among fathers of young and school-age children with type 1 diabetes: Associations with parent and child outcomes

“…The results suggest that fathers with better overall problem-solving skills are less likely to be distressed in relation to their roles as parents, both generally and in the context of their child's T1D management. These findings are consistent with those in past research, which indicated that for parents (i.e., mostly mothers) of children with various physical and psychological conditions, the use of problem-solving skills is associated with less parenting stress (Bushman and Peacock, 2010;Martin et al, 2013;Noojin and Wallander, 1997). Relatedly, there is support for the idea that maladaptive coping strategies (e.g., avoidance and disengagement), in contrast to more adaptive coping skills like problem-solving, are associated with increased parenting stress when a child has a chronic illness (Jaser et al, 2014;Kumari et al, 2011).…”

The Role of Interpersonal Problem Solving in Using the Immature Defense Mechanisms in Adolescents

“…That they feel competent in solving the problem makes positive contribution to their problem-solving skills (Korkut, 2017;Yenice, 2012). Some studies revealed that having problem solving skill has an effect on decrease in aggression, anger, hostility (Seçer & Ogelman, 2011) and in negative behaviors (Bushman & Peacock, 2010), and on increase in social self-efficacy (Erözkan, 2013), positive emotion (D'Zurilla, Maydeu-Olivares, & Pujol, 2011) and interpersonal relationships (Joseph & Strain, 2010;Sumi, 2012). Negative thinking is referred to as negative approach to the problem.…”