COMPARISON OF 4 INSTRUCTIONAL-TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING PARENTS TO USE TIME-OUT

Forty-eight parents of young children were instructed in a time-out procedure and received one of four instructional techniques: written presentation, lecture presentation, videotaped modeling presentation, and role-playing presentation. A no-treatment control group was also included. All treatment groups were superior to the control group on questionnaire-assessed knowledge of the time-out procedure but not different among themselves. However, in applying the instructed skill, methods of training varied in efficacy. Audiotape analog assessment indicated that all instructed groups performed significantly better than the control group and that role playing was superior to the lecture presentation group. An examination of the parent's ability to apply time-out in the home with their own children revealed that the modeling instruction was more effective than the written presentation and the control condition. © 1979 Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy.