Substantial evidence supports the effective reduction of child behavior problems and increase of positive parenting skills in behavioral parent-training (BPT) programs; however, many of these treatments suffer from high rates of family termination after the first few sessions and low family adherence to treatment protocol (e.g., homework completion). The current study presents preliminary results of a larger randomized controlled trial of families randomly assigned to one of two conditions: incentivized Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) (N = 34) and PCIT alone (N = 30). This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of incentives in increasing families session attendance, session homework completion, and use of positive parenting skills as well as decreasing negative parenting practices and children’s behavior problems in the first few treatment sessions. Data were analyzed using independent sample t-tests, analyses of variance, and Pearson correlations. Families in the incentive group received approximately five incentives (worth approximately $5–12 each) during treatment (M = 5.41, SD = 2.38) with the maximum of nine incentives possible for the duration of the study. Families receiving incentives were not significantly different from families in parent training alone on a number of adherence-related factors during the first five sessions. Although not significant (p > 0.05), the incentive group had proportionally fewer participants (14.7%) end services compared to the non-incentive group (26.7%). Paper homework completion and attendance were positively correlated with changes in positive parenting behaviors, suggesting that parental early engagement is an important factor in the therapeutic process of BPT programs. However, the use of small incentives may not be sufficient to enhance early treatment attendance when families are most likely to drop out of treatment.
