It is known that children with callous and
unemotional behaviour traits tend to develop violent behaviours,
often leading to unemployment, substance abuse and criminal
offending. A research project at the Institute of Psychiatry,
King's College London, aims to evaluate whether or not parental
training to improve emotional engagement will result in better
outcomes for such children.
The two-year study, funded with a grant of £290,068, aims to
identify specific characteristics displayed by children with these
traits, predict ongoing problems and provide appropriate parent
training to help them avoid long-term problems, as well as
providing immediate benefits through the treatment.
The first cohort of families was recruited to the project in
September 2011. Participants are randomly assigned to either a
parent training and emotion intervention programme or to parent
training alone and will be followed over time to assess which
approach produces the best outcomes. Evidence of the effectiveness
of the different interventions will be available at the end of the
trial in 2013.
According to project lead Professor Mark Dadds from the child
and adolescent psychiatry department at the Institute of
Psychology, Kings College London, existing treatments are limited
in their effectiveness for these children.
He says: "Previous research has shown that behaviour problems in
the 'cold' subgroup of children are relatively insensitive to the
quality of parenting they receive, often making these children very
difficult to parent successfully. A critical priority of mental
health research is thus to develop and evaluate innovative ways to
help these children develop successful empathic relationships with
attachment figures."
The study will be evaluated in a variety of ways to test child
psychopathology, child emotional competence, and child attachment,
and through biological methods such as physiological responses
during parent-child interactions. Parental reactions and
psychopathology will also be assessed pre- and post-treatment, and
at a six-month follow up.
The Charity's support reflects its commitment towards improving
wider health and wellbeing through early intervention and
prevention, as well as testing interventions that can be directly
translated into healthcare practice. A reduction in violent crime
would not only serve to improve the health and life chances of the
young people engaged in these activities, it would also alleviate
the impact on acute services dealing with injuries sustained
through violent crime.