Benefits of Using the Incredible Years® Home Coaching Parent Programs: Assuring Success
This article describes a home coaching model for delivering the Incredible Years Baby, Toddler, Preschool and School Age Parenting programs. The IY home-based program holds promise for providing added support for parents attending the IY group-based program. It can be used to provide additional personalized practice for parents with their children at home, or as a make-up session if they have missed a group session. The IY home-based model can also be used to deliver the entire program one-on-one at home. The home-based model appears to be particularly effective for high risk parents, parents with scheduling conflicts, or parents experiencing other interpersonal or health factors. It is believed that the flexibility and ease of delivering the IY model in a family’s home using many of the IY group-based principles will overcome many of the logistical and psychological barriers to accessing services. Preliminary studies evaluating both these approaches suggests that the IY group plus home-based support serves to help parents sustain positive parenting changes in the longer term.