Home > Arhiva > 2010 > Numar: 2 > Stabilitatea plasamentului şi calitatea vieţii familiilor de plasament ale copiilor care prezintă comportament agresiv: eficienţa unui program parental cognitiv-comportamental

Stabilitatea plasamentului şi calitatea vieţii familiilor de plasament ale copiilor care prezintă comportament agresiv: eficienţa unui program parental cognitiv-comportamental [Placement Stability and Quality of Life in Foster Parents of Children Presenting Aggressive Behavior: the Efficacy of a Cognitive-Behavioral Parent Program]

Oana A. Gaviţa (PhD Student, Researcher, A clinical psychologist, psychotherapist CBT, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, “Babes-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca, Republicii Street, no. 37, 400015, Romania. E-mail: oanagavita@psychology.ro)
Daniel David (Professor, PhD, clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and supervisor CBT, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, “Babes-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca, Republicii Street, no. 37, 400015, Romania Department of Cancer Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA. E-mail danieldavid@psychology.ro)
Anca Dobrean (Associate Professor, PhD, clinical psychologist, psychotherapist CBT, 1, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, “Babes-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca, Republicii Street, no. 37, 400015, Romania. E-mail ancadobrean@psychology.ro)

Foster children manifest a high incidence of behavioral problems compared with children from the general population and these problems are associated with unplanned disruptions in foster care placement. This study is investigating the efficacy of a short cognitive-behavioral parent program delivered to foster parents having in placement children with aggressive behavior for increasing placement stability and foster parent’s quality of life. The trial had a randomized controlled comparative pre-post design and the intervention combined components from the most validated parent programs for child defiant behavior in the literature, focusing on providing foster parents with child development information/ psycho-education, parental stress reduction, parenting skills, problems solving skills and efficient communication skills. Results are supporting the efficacy of the program in improving the quality of life in foster parents after the treatment, but no differences were found regarding placement stability between the parental cognitive-behavioral group and the waiting list. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of incorporating the advancements in evidence-based parental interventions to making available viable parent interventions to Romanian Child Welfare System for reducing the rate of unplanned placement disruptions and increasing the quality of life in foster parents having in placement children presenting disruptive behavior.

Keywords: foster children, disruptive behavior, cognitive-behavioral parent program