Skill Acquisition and Utilization During Evidence-Based Psychosocial Treatments for Childhood Disruptive Behavior Problems: A Review and Meta-analysis

We review 85 empirical articles published since 2000 that measured the acquisition and/or utilization of parent management skills and/or child cognitive-behavioral skills in the context of an evidence-based treatment (EBT) for childhood behavior problems. Results showed that: (1) there are no standardized measures of skill acquisition or skill utilization that are used across treatments, (2) little is known about predictors, correlates, or outcomes associated with skill acquisition and utilization, and (3) few studies systematically examined techniques to enhance the acquisition and utilization of specific skills. Meta-analytic results from a subset of 68 articles (59 studies) showed an overall treatment–control ES = .31, p < .01 for skill acquisition and ES = .20, p = ns for skill utilization. We recommend that future research focus on the following three areas: (1) development of standardized measures of skill acquisition and utilization from a “common elements” perspective that can used across EBTs; (2) assessment of the predictors, correlates, and outcomes associated with skill acquisition and utilization; and (3) development of innovative interventions to enhance the acquisition and utilization of cognitive-behavioral and parent management skills.