Parent-Child Interaction Assessment-II Modifying Attributions of Parents

The Parent-Child Interaction Assessment-II Modifying Attributions of Parents (PCIA-II/MAP) intervention is a brief, manualized cognitive-behavioral treatment for parents in high-risk families, developed by Wendy Bohr. A parent and child are video recorded during a structured play activity, and treatment sessions involve the therapist and parent discussing excerpts from the recording, concluding with a post-treatment assessment. After filming, the clinical research team reviews the video to identify parenting strengths and problematic behavior in the parent or child, then the parent meets the therapist for four intervention sessions in which the therapist points out parenting strengths, creates a dialogue about what the child may be thinking, feeling and intending, and elicits and discusses other possible attributions for the child's behavior; treatment is directed at helping the parent build on those strengths and identify and modify inaccurate, dysfunctional or negative attributions. The post-treatment meeting films the parent-child pair again and has the parent complete measures assessing treatment efficacy; the intervention has been used in treatment and outcome research in Ontario, Canada, and a randomized controlled trial has been conducted with women victims of partner violence in the United States.