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In addition to research applications, the DPICS II is helpful in clinical settings as a way to monitor parents' use of effective verbal behaviors frequently taught in behavior management treatment programs for young children. Both DPICS and DPICS II have been used to monitor and assess Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), a parent training program designed to treat children with behavior problems and their parents (Hembree-Kigin & McNeil, 1995).
A basic requirement of an observational system of conduct-disordered children is that it be both reliable and valid. In addition, such a system must discriminate normal from conduct problem families. Normative data are essential in that they provide diagnostic information as well as a basis against which to evaluate treatment outcome.
Bessmer (1996) examined the reliability and validity of the research version of
DPICS II by comparing videotaped interactions of mother-child dyads in which the child was referred to a psychology clinic for behavior problems and diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder to non-referred mother-child dyads. The study participants were 60 mother-child dyads representing a clinic-referred group (n11 = 30) and a nonproblem comparison group (n = 30). The children in the clinic-referred group were participants in a large treatment outcome study (N = 100) for preschool children with behavior problems. The two groups were compared on several measures including the Parenting Stress Index (PSI; Abidin, 1995), the Parenting Locus of Control Scale (PLOC; Campis, Lyman, & Prentice-Dunn, 1986), and the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI; Eyberg, 1999), as well as the DPICS II behavioral observations. Reliability was assessed using percent agreement, intraclass correlations, and Cohen's kappa. Overall, the