Virtual Delivery of Parent Coaching Interventions in Early Childhood Mental Health: A Scoping Review
Virtual parent coaching works best for stopping disruptive behavior in kids under six.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hippman and the team looked at 30 studies on virtual parent coaching.
All kids were under six and had different diagnoses.
They wanted to see which problems the coaching helped most.
What they found
Disruptive behavior got the biggest win.
Anxiety improved a little.
Parent-child attachment barely moved.
How this fits with other research
Kunze et al. (2025) show the same thing works when brand-new coaches run it.
Their toddlers with delays got better engagement after parents learned via Zoom.
Whiteside et al. (2022) sound gloomy: parent coaching raises parent skills but child gains are spotty.
The gap closes when you read Hippman’s detail: disruptive behavior is the surest payoff.
Aiello et al. (2022) add a tip: use short video clips you send parents to watch later.
That tweak cut drop-outs in half during COVID.
Why it matters
You can coach parents through a screen and still see real change.
Start with families whose main worry is hitting, yelling, or non-compliance.
Add video feedback to keep them showing up.
Save the warm fuzzy attachment goals for later or for in-person work.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Parent–coaching interventions positively impact child development. Virtual delivery of such interventions is supported by literature reviews and a practice guideline, however, none of these focused on children under age six. A scoping review of virtually-delivered parent-coaching interventions for disruptive behaviour, anxiety, and parent–child relationship concerns in children under age six was conducted between Dec. 15, 2020 and April 22, 2021. Iterative searches of the databases PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO were complemented by reference list searches and clinician expert review (N = 1146). After relevance screening and duplicate removal, collaboratively-developed inclusion criteria were applied to records, followed by data extraction from eligible articles (n = 30). Most literature documented behavioural-based interventions targeting disruptive behaviour which were delivered individually, by therapists, to White, non-Hispanic parents. Evidence supports feasibility and efficacy of virtually-delivered parent-coaching interventions to improve child disruptive behaviour (strong), anxiety (moderate), and parent–child relationship (weak). There is a significant gap in the literature regarding the virtual delivery of attachment-based parent-coaching interventions. In sum, virtual parent coaching can be an efficacious approach for children under age six, particularly for behavioural challenges. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10578-023-01597-8.
Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 2023 · doi:10.1007/s10578-023-01597-8