Parenting in a Pandemic: Preliminary Support for Delivering Brief Behavioral Parent Training Through Telehealth

JBW et al. ran six Zoom classes for parents of 3- to 7-year-olds.

Each week parents learned praise, time-out, and play skills.

Before and after, they filled out rating scales on child misbehavior and their own confidence.

Parents reported fewer tantrums, dawdling, and defiance after the course.

They also felt surer of their parenting skills.

Most families logged in to every session.

Martin et al. (2023) show the same Zoom format works for autistic children, adding proof that parents can run the steps with high fidelity.

Graucher et al. (2022) compared Zoom to in-person RUBI classes and found equal drops in disruptive behavior, so the screen itself is not a barrier.

Breider et al. (2024) looked face-to-face again and saw strong gains, but their blended online-plus-clinic group did no better than wait-list.

Together the four studies say: live video parent training cuts child problems, yet mixing online and clinic adds little.

You can offer a short, six-week parent group on Zoom and still get the same drop in problem behavior seen in longer clinic programs.

No travel time means more families finish.

Try running the first session as a tech check, then keep the camera on for real-time coaching just like you would in a clinic room.