Using the Incredible Years Programs

Key Ingredients to Implementing The Incredible Years Programs with Fidelity

Identification and selection of an “evidence-based,” “empirically validated,” or “best practices” mental health program is only the first step in service delivery. In order to obtain similar results to those published by the developer of a program, attention must be given to supervising the quality of the implementation of that program. It is important to assure that the program is delivered with the highest degree of fidelity possible. Fidelity means that the program is delivered in its entirety, using all the components and therapeutic processes recommended by the developer. The Incredible Years Parent, Teacher, and Child Training Programs have been proven in numerous randomized control group studies to be effective for promoting positive parent and teacher interactions with children, strengthening children’s emotional, social, and self-regulation competence and reducing behavior problems in both prevention and clinic populations.

A number of training processes are recommended to ensure that replication of the Incredible Years programs can be achieved with fidelity:

• standardized training

• detailed treatment manuals

• standardized session protocols

• peer review, mentoring and supervision

• leader certification

Full Description of Training Methods and Supervision Processes

This chapter will provide a description of these training methods and supervision processes to deliver the Incredible Years training programs with a high degree of fidelity. Read