A Contextual Behavioral Science Approach to Parenting Intervention and Research

Contextual behavioral science can build on the impressive body of knowledge about conditions that nurture children's development by providing an empirically based theory of the role of language in family interactions. This chapter presents an introduction on the efforts to learn about how best to support the most precious resource, children, would benefit by a consideration of any practice that might move ones toward this goal. It describes the processes in more detail within the context of a parent-child-school situation. The chapter describes a sampling of activities from an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)-based parenting program to illustrate how specific methods can influence parents’ cognitive/ verbal processes. These methods, derived from key relational frame theory (RFT) principles, aim to reduce coercion and, at the same time, increase the incidence of nurturing parenting behaviors.