The goal of the proposed Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award is to provide training in efficacy and effectiveness techniques necessary for the development and evaluation of interventions for physically abusive families. The primary goal of such an intervention is to minimize the development of severe mental health problems in child physical abuse (CPA) victims. Psychiatric sequelae of CPA include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other internalizing symptoms (e.g., general anxiety and depression), externalizing behavioral problems (e.g., aggression and oppositional behavior), and deficits in social competence (e.g., social skills, peer relations) An intervention, Parent and Child Therapy for Physical Abuse (PACT-PA) will be developed and evaluated that includes evidenced-based strategies for improving parenting practices in the abusive caregivers (through parent training) and maladaptive abuse-specific cognitions and coping mechanisms in the abused children (through children's cognitive behavioral therapy and clarification). The success of these programs with physically abusive families may be limited by the degree to which these interventions are acceptable and feasible. An understanding of physically abusive caregivers' and their children's perceptions of the abusive incidents, prior experiences with service access and delivery, and present therapeutic needs and barriers to participating in an intervention may inform methods of service delivery. Thus, a career development plan has been designed for the candidate to: (1) obtain training in the assessment of the correlates of caregivers' physically abusive behavior, sequelae of child physical abuse in children, and proximal targets of these sequelae, (2) extend her knowledge of efficacy and effectiveness research methodology, (3) adapt and implement an intervention program for physical abusive families, and (4) acquire training in statistical methods applied to naturalistic assessment, longitudinal data, and evaluation of clinical trials. This plan will be supplemented by a research project in which the Candidate will compare the relative efficacy of PACT-PA versus nonspecific supportive psychotherapy in a 2 (intervention condition) by 3 (pre-intervention, post-intervention, follow-up) mixed model factorial design with random assignment to condition and repeated measures on the second factor. Findings from this pilot study will be used in the Candidate's application for an R01.
