Behavioral Parent Training: Is There an "App" for That?

It is certainly not true that everyone owns an iPhone (yet!), but rare is the individual who has not heard the commercials with the catchy phrase, “There is an ‘app’ for that.” For many, “apps,” or applications, may be synonymous with the iPhone. So familiar are iPhone applications that a full-page advertisement is now being run in national newspapers with the headline, “Introducing 16 apps that need no introduction.” So, what exactly is an “app”? “Apps” are simply software programs that most recently have become synonymous with those developed for download to a range of smartphones (e.g., Blackberry, iPhone, Droid). “Apps” involve a variety of functions, depending on the particular program, with some more sophisticated than others. For example, there is now an application for tracking packages with an express carrier. Another application allows one to check whether an item is in stock at a popular retailer. Still another application not only gives directions to a ubiquitous coffee shop, but also allows the user to add money to a customized card before arriving. There are literally applications available to manage almost every aspect of one’s life, but what about parenting? … Is there an “app” for that? Although unlikely to be highlighted on the famous “There is an ‘app’ for that” commercials, there are many applications that have been developed that are related to the field of behavior therapy. Simply typing “psychology” into the iPhone “App Store” yields hundreds of related applications, ranging from one that assesses the user’s personality to another that aims to boost happiness in times of stress. A more narrow search for “behavior therapy” yields far fewer applications; however, there are still many of relevance, including applications that target the fear of flying, help to better manage time, assist with assertiveness training, and even an application that guides recording automatic thoughts and labeling cognitive errors. There are also “apps” that focus on issues of relevance to behavioral parent training for child disruptive behaviors. There are less applied applications like the one to help parents assess their own parenting style, an exercise that parallels, although certainly less rigorous, the assessment phase of behavioral parent training. There are also more practical applications, including several designed to guide parents through the use of time-out. When the child’s behavior merits a time-out, the parent can click on the child’s name, which they have previously entered, and the application will tell them how long the time-out should last based on the child’s age (which was also previously entered) and serve as a timer. To our knowledge, there is no available empirical data that would tell us whether such an application was helpful to parents or not. Are parents who use the time-out application more effective with the time-out procedure and, therefore, more likely to stick with it, than parents who do not? Our educated guess is that although the various time-out applications at first glance may seem helpful to parents, they have little impact on parent’s competence in their use of time-out or confidence in carrying out the procedure. That is, the most difficult part of time-out for parents is likely not calculating the number of minutes the time-out should last or even finding a timer. Rather, the more difficult part of time-out for parents is determining whether time-out is the most appropriate consequence to use at a particular time: then, if it is, remembering the timeout sequence, remaining calm but firm during its administration, and utilizing the consequence consistently. These are not simple things for parents to learn and success requires significant in- and out-of-session practice—a commitment to which the barriers often seem insurmountable to many parents.