Poster Presentation: CPA Convention Montreal, 2009 Acceptability evaluation of an automated telephone parenting program

We designed CATHI, the Computer Automated Telephone Help and Information system, to support the Family Help distance treatment program, a parent training program for families with children with disruptive behaviour, using handbooks, videos and weekly phone calls from a trained coach.
CATHI adds tips for meeting goals, sound clips of parents’ experiences and reminders. It also reviews handbook material and helps parents track their progress. We evaluated the acceptability of CATHI. Parents (N=25) with children (4-12 years) participated in 4-weeks of Family Help. Participants were assigned to one of two groups: (1)CATHI only or (2) live coach support plus CATHI (live coach for 1 week and CATHI for 3 weeks).
At the end of treatment, parents completed the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire 8 and the CATHI Survey to determine satisfaction. Parents rated CATHI positively. Both groups found CATHI easy to use (M=4.20/5, SD=1.21) and would recommend the system to parents (M=4.27/5, SD=1.10). Parents were satisfied with CATHI (M=3.07/4, SD=0.92). Parents support an automated telephone system in children’s mental health treatment.
CATHI has the potential to provide highly accessible and cost-effective parent skills training.
Meredith Whitney, IWK Health Centre Vanessa V Varalli, IWK Health Centre Patricia Lingley-Pottie, IWK Health Centre Patrick J McGrath, IWK Health Centre Charles E Cunningham, McMaster University