Incredible Years (IY) - Preschool Basic
Category
Family Support
Child's Age
3-4 years, 4-5 years
Participant
Parents/Guardian
Languages
English, Spanish, French
Brief Description
Incredible Years Preschool Basic Parenting Program (IY Preschool Basic) is a parent education program promoting positive parenting strategies to promote children’s academic, social, and emotional skills and reduce conduct problems in children ages 3-6 years. IY Preschool Basic also reduces parents’ symptoms of depression, stress, and anger.
Expected Impact
- Improvements in the child’s symptoms of ADHD, including hyperactivity
- Reduction in the intensity and frequency of child’s problem behaviors
- Reduced use of overreactive or aversive parenting practices
- Reduction in parent symptoms of depression and stress
Core Components for Model Fidelity
- Weekly Group Sessions: Groups of 8-14 parents/caregivers attend weekly sessions facilitated by trained Parenting Program Group leaders centered around video vignettes, group discussion, role-play activities, and discussion of home activities.
Languages Materials are Available in
English, Spanish, French
Delivery Mode
Groups meet in-person in accessible community locations. Based on community and family needs, virtual and one-on-one home visits can be offered. Virtual groups must serve a smaller group size and provide shorter, more frequent group meetings than in-person group meetings. One-on-one delivery during home visits can be provided for make-up sessions, booster sessions, or full program delivery.
Dosage
Minimum of 14 weekly sessions, each lasting 2 to 2.5 hours. When serving high-need families or offering IY Preschool Basic as a treatment program, up to 6 more sessions can be provided for a total of 20 sessions.
Infrastructure for Implementation
Materials: Incredible Years Preschool Basic Parenting Program curriculum kit; Incredible Years: A Troubleshooting Guidebook for parents; audio-visual equipment for showing video vignettes; paper, pens, flipchart, markers, name tags, stickers or other prizes.
Space: Room large enough to seat 12-14 people in chairs in an open circle, with space for small group breakouts.
Other: Childcare, transportation, and food (snacks or a meal) are strongly recommended.
Staffing Requirements
Group sessions are led by 2 trained Parenting Program Group leaders with various backgrounds, including social work, cognitive psychology, nursing, medicine, and education. Parenting Program Group leaders are recommended to complete at least one course in child development and be trained in social learning theory. At least one of the two Parenting Program Group leaders must have a bachelor’s degree or higher with relevant work or life experience.
NCPC strongly recommends staff receive training in the Standards of Quality for Family Support and Strengthening. Contact Positive Childhood Alliance North Carolina (PCANC) or National Family Support Network (NFSN) for more information, training, and certification.
Training for Model Fidelity
Training for Parenting Program Group leaders or facilitators is available online (5 days of training in total, spaced out over a couple of weeks to allow participants time in between the sessions for self-study, with each training day lasting 3.25 hours). Training is available every month.
If enough individuals express interest, Incredible Years can send a trainer to provide on-site, in-person training. In-person, on-site training is scheduled 3-6 months ahead.
For more information on training, visit the IY Toddler, Preschool, & School-Age Parenting Programs (Basic) Group Leader Training webpage.
Contact Information
https://www.incredibleyears.com/early-intervention-programs/parents/preschoolers
Lisa Wallace-Gloria, M.Ed.: lisawg@incredibleyears.com; 206-285-7565
Cost Estimates
Startup costs:
- Facilitator training ($890 per person) for 2 facilitators = $1,780
- Preschool Basic curriculum kit = $2,000
- Textbook for parents = $29 per copy
- Other costs, such as photocopy costs, costs for child care, food, meeting room, and staff time may vary between sites.
Ongoing costs:
- Facilitator consultation sessions with IY trainer (strongly recommended) = $265 per hour
- Group leader certification (strongly recommended)
- $920 per person
- $1,840 for two people
- Textbook for parents = $29 per copy
- Other costs, such as photocopy costs, costs for child care, food, meeting room, and staff time may vary between sites.
Purpose Service Code (PSC)
5505 - Parent Education
Program Identifier (PID)
Incredible Years (IY) - Preschool Basic
Minimal Outputs for NCPC Reporting
FY 24-25:
- Number of parents/guardians participating
Minimal Outcomes for NCPC Reporting
FY 24-25:
- Increase in positive parenting practices
Minimal Measures for NCPC Reporting
FY 24-25:
- Parenting Practices Inventory (PPI)
NCPC Evidence Categorization
Evidence Informed- 2 studies, 1 of which uses a randomized controlled trial model with a comparison group.
Research Summary
Two of the most recent publications on Incredible Years Preschool Basic Program (IY Preschool Basic) include a randomized controlled trial sampling the parents of children with behavioral problems1 and an evaluation of the program’s impacts for children with symptoms of ADHD.2 Results of these studies found that children displaying greater symptoms of ADHD benefitted the most from IY Preschool Basic compared with their peers who displayed fewer symptoms of ADHD, despite continuing to score highly on scales assessing symptoms of hyperactivity. Children with behavioral problems whose parents participated in IY Preschool Basic scored below the clinical cutoff on the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory and demonstrated greater improvements in child behavior, social competence, and hyperactivity compared with their peers in the waitlisted control group. Parents who participated in IY Preschool Basic also reported greater reductions in their symptoms of depression, stress, and use of overreactive or aversive parenting practices compared with nonparticipating parents.
- ^ See McGilloway et al. (2011). This randomized controlled trial assesses the impacts of the Incredible Years Preschool Basic (IYBP) training program for parents of children ages 32-88 months (M = 57.1) with behavioral problems. The sample population resided in urban, mid-eastern areas of Ireland and were eligible if parents rated their child above the clinical cutoff on the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) subscales, Intensity (score ≥ 127) or Problem (score ≥ 11). Participants were randomly assigned by a computer-generated sequence to receive IYBP (n = 103) or to a waitlist control group (n = 46). Participants completed assessments at baseline and 6 months later, with the post-assessment occurring approximately 3 months after completion of IYBP. Measures included demographic information, the ECBI, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Conners Abbreviated Parent Rating Scale, Social Competence Scale, Parenting Stress Index- Short Form (PSI-SF), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and parent-child observations coded with the Dyadic Parent-Child Interactive Coding System- Revised. After completing baseline assessments, participants assigned to the intervention group attended weekly 2-hour sessions for a total of 14 sessions. Due to time constraints, participants completed the 14 sessions over a 12 week period. Participants also received a weekly phone call from the facilitator and were offered follow-up sessions if they were unable to attend a session. Transportation, child care/reimbursement for child care, and refreshments were provided to encourage attendance. Groups were led by two fully accredited IY facilitators. Fidelity was monitored by the facilitators' use of the self-evaluation checklist, Leaders' Weekly Checklist. Baseline assessments indicated that, while there were no statistically significant differences between groups at baseline, there were more boys in the waitlist group (73.8%) than the intervention group (57.4%). Additionally, more participants in the intervention group reported 2 or more risk factors for conduct disorders (65%) compared with the waitlist group (51%). Baseline findings indicated that 60% of participants were at risk of developing Conduct Disorder (CD). At the 6-month follow-up, post-assessment findings indicated that IYBP was associated with positive impacts on children's conduct problems, hyperactive behaviors, and social skills, as well as improved outcomes for parents' stress, symptoms of depression, and use of aversive parenting strategies. The intervention group reported that they used significantly fewer aversive parenting strategies (p = 0.015) and experienced fewer symptoms of depression (p = 0.035) compared with the control group. Parents in the intervention group also reported less stress than the control group, as measured by the PSI-SF (p < 0.001). At follow-up, children in the intervention group scored, on average, below the clinical cutoff on the ECBI and demonstrated significant improvements compared to children in the control group (p < 0.001). The intervention group also reported significant reductions in hyperactivity (p < 0.001), problem behaviors (p < 0.001), and difficulties (p = 0.008). Children in the intervention group were also significantly more socially competent than their peers in the control group (p < 0.001). Study limitations include timetabling constraints that limited the number of observational assessments completed, lower attendance rate than expected (60%), and a higher number of boys in the control group. Additionally, the intervention group had fewer negative behaviors than the control group at baseline. These limitations were not statistically significant.
- ^ See Azevedo et al. (2015). This study evaluates the Incredible Years Preschool Basic program (IY Preschool Basic) among Portuguese children with symptoms of ADHD and disruptive behaviors. The sample population was drawn from a larger sample in a longitudinal randomized controlled trial set in Portugal. For this study, the sample included 52 preschoolers at risk of disruptive behaviors and scoring at or above the cut-off levels for the Conduct and/or Hyperactivity Scales of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Children were assigned to a group based on their scores on the Werry-Weiss-Peters Activity Scale (WWPAS), such that children scoring at or above the 95th percentile were assigned to a high-hyperactivity group (n = 34) and those scoring below the 95th percentile were assigned to a low-hyperactivity group (n = 18). There were no significant differences between the two groups. The low-hyperactivity group had an average child age of 4.17 years, compared with 4.21 years in the high-hyperactivity group. Most caregivers were mothers (94% low-hyperactivity, 91% high-hyperactivity) who were married (83% low-hyperactivity, 82% high-hyperactivity). Over half of the participants were clinically referred to the trial (61% low-hyperactivity, 53% high-hyperactivity). The program included 14 weekly group sessions, each lasting approximately 2 hours. Eleven groups of 9-12 caregivers each were facilitated by 6 accredited group leaders. Measures included a caregiver interview; maternal ratings of child behavior problems; parent self-reports of parenting effectiveness, mood, and program satisfaction; Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ); Werry-Weiss-Peters Activity Scale (WWPAS); Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales - 2nd Edition (PKBS-2); Parental Account of Childhood Symptoms (PACS); Parenting Scale (PS); Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); and Parental Satisfaction Questionnaire. Assessments were completed at baseline, post-intervention, and 12-month follow-up. Results indicated that mothers from the high-hyperactivity group were more likely to attend the group sessions with a second caregiver (p = 0.022). Both the low-hyperactivity and high-hyperactivity groups benefitted from the program, but there were significantly greater improvements among the high-hyperactivity group on the WWPAS for ADHD symptoms (p = 0.008) as well as greater reductions in parent reports of overreactive parenting practices (p =0.018). Additionally, the high-hyperactivity group reported significant reductions in parent-reported symptoms of depression (p = 0.032), although neither group were at the clinical level at baseline. Despite these greater improvements, parents in the high-hyperactivity group were more likely to consider their children to have more hyperactive behaviors than parents in the low-hyperactivity group (p = 0.029). This parent-reported outcome was supported by WWPAS scores at the 12-month follow-up, which indicated that 25% of children in the high-hyperactivity group scored above the 95th percentile and 39% scored between the 80th and 95th percentile (compared to all children in this group at baseline). Study limitations include the small sample size, which could influence statistical significance, and unequal group sizes.
Researched Population
- Children ages 3-6 years
- Children at risk of disruptive behaviors and/or displaying symptoms of ADHD
Azevedo, A. F., Seabra-Santos, M. J., Gaspar, M. F., & Homem, T. C. (2015). Do Portuguese Preschoolers With High Hyperactive Behaviors Make More Progress Than Those With Low Hyperactivity After Parental Intervention? Journal of Early Intervention, 37(2). 119-137. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053815115598006
McGilloway, S., Mhaille, G. N., Bywater, T., Furlong, M., Leckey, Y., Kelly, P., Comiskey, C., & Donnelly, M. (2011). A Parenting Intervention for Childhood Behavioral Problems: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Disadvantaged Community-Based Settings. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 80(1), 116-127. https://www.doi.org/10.1037/a0026304
Local Partnerships Currently Implementing
Local Partnerships in purple have adopted Incredible Years (IY) - Preschool Basic. Local Partnership contact information can be found here.