Changes in Mindfulness Attitude after Parent–Child Interaction Therapy Skills Acquisition: Comparison of Mindfulness Attitude before and after the Parent–Child Interaction Therapy 40 Hours Basic Training

Abstract

I conducted this study to verify that the acquisition of PRIDE skills, an important skill for building good parent–child relationships in parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT), is associated with mindfulness attitude formation. PCIT, which was developed by Eyberg in 1974, is a behavioral therapy based on play therapy in which a therapist provides live coaching from a separate room while parents and children are playing in the same room to improve the parent–child relationship and children’s problem behaviors. The original and unique feature of my study is that I discussed PRIDE skills and mindfulness from the perspective that both are related to attentional control functions. The mindful attention awareness scale (MAAS) Japanese version was used as a measure of mindfulness. I compared the MAAS score of seven graduates who mastered PRIDE skills before and after 40 hours of PCIT International Prescribed Training Workshop, and as a control group, I compared the MAAS score of six non-training participants. As a result, the MAAS score had a significantly decreased tendency only in the PCIT group. It was suggested that mindfulness tendency may have increased in the PCIT group. PCIT may contribute to mindfulness attitude formation through improved attention and awareness. This study was approved and conducted by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Human Sciences, Kobe College. There are no conflicts of interest.