Parent Management Training—Oregon Model: Adapting Intervention with Rigorous Research

• Author: John Kjøbli,Marion S. Forgatch
• Date: 01 September 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12224
• Published date: 01 September 2016

Parent Management Training—Oregon Model:

Adapting Intervention with Rigorous Research

MARION S. FORGATCH*

,†

JOHN KJØBLI

‡,§

Parent Management Training—Oregon Model (PMTO

â

) is a set of theory-based parent-

ing programs with status as evidence-based treatments. PMTO has been rigorously tested

in efficacy and effectiveness trials in different contexts, cultures, and formats. Parent s, the

presumed agents of change, learn core parenting practices, specifically skill encourage-

ment, limit setting, monitoring/supervision, interpersonal problem solving, and positive

involvement. The intervention effectively prevents and ameliorates children’s behavior

problems by replacing coercive interactions with positive parenting practices. Delivery for-

mat includes sessions with individual families in agencies or families’ homes, parent

groups, and web-based and telehealth communication. Mediational models have tested

parenting practices as mechanisms of change for children’s behavior and found suppo rt for

the theory underlying PMTO programs. Moderating effects include children’s age, mater-

nal depression, and social disadvantage. The Norwegian PMTO implementation is pre-

sented as an example of how PMTO has been tailored to reach diverse populations as

delivered by multiple systems of care throughout the nation. An implementation and

research center in Oslo provides infrastructure and promotes collaboration between practi-

tioners and researchers to conduct rigorous intervention research. Although evidence-

based and tested within a wide array of contexts and populations, PMTO must continue to

adapt to an ever-changing world.

Keywords: Parent Management Training—Oregon Model; Parent Training; Family

Process; Child Behavior Problems

Fam Proc 55:500–513, 2016

The Oregon Model of Parent Management Training (PMTO

â

) reflects nearly 50 years

of programmatic work studying families with youngsters with behavior problems. The

goal is to construct a model that explains the development and maintenance of behavior

problems, test the hypotheses with rigorous research, and design and evaluate a general-

izable intervention that treats and prevents antisocial and associated behavior problems.

This integration of theory, research and practice using an iterative process has resulted in

*Implementation Sciences International, Inc., Eugene, OR.

†

Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene, OR.

‡

The Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development, Oslo, Norway.

§

Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, Uni Research Health, Bergen,

Norway.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Marion S. Forgatch, Implementation

Sciences International, Inc., 10 Shelton McMurphey Blvd., Eugene, OR 97401. E-mail: marionf@oslc.org.

Support for this project was provided by Grant Nos. RO1 DA 16097 from the Prevention Research

Branch, NIDA, U.S. PHS, and RO1 MH 38318 from the Child and Adolescent Treatment and Preventive

Intervention Research Branch, DSIR, NIMH, U.S. PHS. The content is solely the responsibility of the

authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or

the National Institutes of Health.

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Family Process, Vol. 55, No. 3, 2016 ©2016 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12224