SUGGESTIONS FOR EVALUATING SELF-ADMINISTERED MATERIALS IN PARENT TRAINING

Abstract

Self-administered materials for parents are becoming increasingly prevalent; however, adequate empirical evaluation of these materials is generally absent. In order to encourage research in this area, methodological issues that need to be considered in evaluating self-help written packages for parents are presented. These include the following: reading comprehension ability of the parent and readability of the manual; composition of the experimental groups; use of appropriate control or comparison groups; outcome measures; collection of cost-effectiveness data; and assessment of maintenance of treatment effects. Recommendations regarding features of research evaluating self-administered materials are made.