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Evidence-Based Treatments for Trauma Related Disorders in Children and Adolescents pp 341–361Cite as

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy

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Abstract

Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT), a program for young children and their families, is a strong evidence-based treatment that repeatedly receives the highest rankings possible in reviews of such treatments (e.g., California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare, 2015; nrepp.samhsa.gov). PCIT was originally developed for use with young children (2–7 years of age) with disruptive behavior problems (McNeil and Hembree-Kigin 2010; Zisser and Eyberg 2010). As PCIT continued to show significant positive outcomes including improved child behaviors, reduced parenting stress, and improved parent-child relationships (Brinkmeyer and Eyberg 2003; Eyberg and Robinson 1982), the application of PCIT to children at risk or exposed to trauma seemed a logical step.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In PCIT, the parent is defined by the family. The parent is the primary adult caregiver(s) of the child. This could include biological parents, kinship parents, foster parents, etc. For this chapter, the term parent(s) will be used to describe the parent(s)/caregiver(s).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Robin H. Gurwitch PhD

  2. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Erica Pearl Messer PsyD

  3. University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA

    Beverly W. Funderburk PhD

Authors
  1. Robin H. Gurwitch PhD
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  2. Erica Pearl Messer PsyD
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  3. Beverly W. Funderburk PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robin H. Gurwitch PhD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, University Children’s Hospital University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Markus A. Landolt

  2. Division of Dissemination and Training, National Center for PTSD, Palo Alto, California, USA

    Marylène Cloitre

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Ulrich Schnyder

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Gurwitch, R.H., Messer, E.P., Funderburk, B.W. (2017). Parent-Child Interaction Therapy. In: Landolt, M., Cloitre, M., Schnyder, U. (eds) Evidence-Based Treatments for Trauma Related Disorders in Children and Adolescents. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46138-0_16

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