Live Coaching of Parenting Skills Using the Internet: Implications for Clinical Practice

Many parents who would benefit from parenting skills training via live coaching do not receive it due to barriers such as time, distance, and the unavailability of skilled providers. This report describes an innovative web-based parenting skills program for families of young children with traumatic brain injury (TBI)-Internet-Based Interacting Together Everyday, Recovery After Childhood TBI (I-InTERACT). I-InTERACT is a web-based parenting skills program of 10-14 sessions that combines self-guided web modules with live coaching via videoconferencing. We describe the feasibility and utility of this approach, as well as the unique nature of the therapeutic process, detailing the perspectives of 13 parents of children with TBI who participated in the program and 6 therapists who delivered the program. Nine of 13 parents preferred the web-based coaching to traditional treatment; they cited its ease of use and the comfort of doing it at home. Therapists uniformly liked coaching over the web despite the need to address boundaries and troubleshoot technological difficulties. Therapeutic alliance was comparable to traditional therapy with nearly all families expressing a strong connection to the therapist. Individuals with less computer experience particularly liked the program because it gave them access to the web and a sense of empowerment. These preliminary findings support the utility of web-based parenting skills training for families from diverse backgrounds, while underscoring the potential for clinical use with other underserved populations.