Personalizing PCIT for culturally diverse families: Outcomes from a pilot trial utilizing the PersIn framework

Abstract

Culture-specific versions of evidence-based interventions are critically important to meeting the needs of underserved and minoritized populations but may also face significant barriers to large-scale implementation when there are settings with multiple cultural groups and within-group heterogeneity. The PersIn framework is a proposed approach for personalizing an evidence-based intervention to facilitate cultural responsiveness concurrent with fidelity to the original intervention, flexibility in individual implementation, and administration that is standardized, feasible, and replicable. This study describes pilot feasibility outcomes for MY PCIT (n = 32), a personalized version of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for culturally diverse families that was developed as a proof-of-concept of the PersIn framework. This application of the PersIn framework was designed to enhance cultural responsiveness by increasing alignment between parent explanatory models and the presentation and delivery of PCIT. MY PCIT produced both statistically and clinically significant changes in pre-to post-treatment child outcomes and parent outcomes. Child behavior change outcomes were comparable to those reported by three benchmark studies, supporting the potential of this approach.

Keywords: Behavioral parent training; Cultural adaptations; Disruptive behavior disorders; Parent–Child Interaction Therapy; Personalization.