The primary aim of this project was to conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to examine the efficacy of Measurement-Based Care (MBC; session-by-session measures plus feedback to parents, clinicians, and supervisors) versus Monitoring as Usual (MAU; measures completed pre-, post-, and at three-month follow-up) for improving child disruptive behaviour disorders in an 8 to 10 session behavioural parent training (BPT) intervention. ARH Mental Health Research Grant Recipient, Dr Lucy Tully’s were that MBC would be superior to MAU at both post-intervention and three-month follow-up across a range of outcomes, including child behaviour, parenting, parent mental health, treatment drop-out, and satisfaction with the intervention.

Results from the trial showed that MBC did not result in more effective outcomes for children or parents (mothers and fathers) when compared to MAU. However, both groups were effective in improving child, parent, and family outcomes from pre- to post-intervention and at three-month follow-up. In addition, no significant differences were found between groups in treatment drop-out or parent ratings of satisfaction with the parenting intervention, although both groups reported high satisfaction and low drop-out rates (<5%). There are a number of possible explanations for why MBC did not lead to superior outcomes, including that the parenting intervention was highly effective overall, reducing the ability to detect a significant added effect of MBC.

While no support was found for these hypotheses, the majority of parents in the MBC group reported being very or extremely satisfied (77%) with completing the session-by-session measures, indicated that completing measures at each session was helpful for tracking their progress (78%), and perceived the measures as low effort (69%). The majority of clinicians (78%) also rated MBC as helpful in their work with families. These findings indicate that MBC appears suitable for use in parenting interventions and is associated with positive perceptions from both parents and clinicians. Given these positive perceptions, clinicians may consider incorporating MBC into parenting interventions to support progress monitoring on a case-by-case basis.

Media contact: [email protected]       First published 10th September 2026

Graphic acknowledgement: Freepik.com