Self-directed behavioral family intervention for parents of oppositional children in rural and remote areas.

Researchers mailed a 10-week parent-training packet to families in rural Australia. Each week parents read a short lesson and tried the skill at home.

A clinician called once a week for 20 minutes to answer questions. No one drove to the home or met in person.

Kids showed less arguing, yelling, and defiance than kids on the wait-list. Parents felt more confident and less stressed.

Four months later the gains were still there. Moms also reported better mental health.

Rodgers et al. (2025) now supersedes this mail model. They kept the remote idea but added live video coaching and group chat. Child behavior improved even more.

McGarty et al. (2018) and Rispoli et al. (2022) extend the concept to autism and Angelman syndrome. Telehealth works for those groups too.

Gerow et al. (2021) shift the focus. Instead of teaching general parenting, they coach parents to run brief functional analyses at home. Remote coaching still works, but the goal is assessment, not broad behavior reduction.

You can serve rural families without leaving your office. A printed step-by-step guide plus a weekly check-in call cuts oppositional behavior and lifts parent mood. If you want bigger gains, add video coaching like Rodgers et al. (2025) did. Either way, distance is no longer a barrier to good parent training.