Behavioural family intervention (BFI) as a treatment approach emphasises the importance of family interaction patterns in the origins, maintenance, and treatment of child behaviour problems. The BFI Field can document substantial contributions to the development of more effective treatments with children, particularly those with conduct problems. Furthermore, this approach is now being applied to new areas with encouraging results (eg. pain, chronic health problems, anxiety disorders, and learning difficulties). There is increasing evidence that this technology is not a panacea and that good clinical outcomes can be difficult to achieve when children's problems are complicated by other indices of family adversity (eg. marital discord, maternal depression, alcohol abuse, or poverty). This special issue of Behaviour Change documents recent developments in BFI which attempt to improve outcomes with high risk groups. Applications of BFI with depressed and marital distressed parents and with children who are developmentally disabled, anxious, or have learning difficulties, are discussed. Finally, the issue points towards the use of BFI as a strategy for preventing disruptive behavioural disorders in children.

The field of child clinical psychology has benefited from the development of behaviour therapy. One of the most important contributing areas is that of behavioural family intervention. Some of the contributions and achievements of this area are considered. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

This report explores the role of parental depression in the adjustment of children and discusses its implications for behavioural family intervention. Within a social interactional perspective, depression is conceptualised as a class of behaviours that is under the control of the social environment and at the same time operates as a context for other social agents. The presence of this class of behaviours in parents is postulated to precipitate developmentally determined psychological problems, that is based on a child's age and sex, such that younger boys and adolescent girls would be most at risk. The results of two longitudinal studies are presented showing a significant relation between fluctuations in mothers' depressive symptoms and similar symptoms in their adolescent daughters. Weaker effects are seen between fathers' and sons' depressive levels. The implications for behavioural family therapy are discussed in relation to depression in adolescent girls.

Much research has demonstrated that marital discord and divorce are risk factors for the development of childhood behavioural and emotional disorders. Although theoretical models and research programs that focus attention on possible mechanisms of influence are scarce, it is clear that marital discord can powerfully influence children via its effect on spouse's parenting behaviour. Thus, marital discord can represent a significant impediment for intervention programs that aim to help children by providing parent training. It is argued that marital and child focused interventions can be successfully integrated in behavioural family therapy. A description of the process and content elements of such an integration is presented, and future directions for research and practice are discussed.

Described here is a brief history and critique of behavioural parent training, followed by a description of an ecobehavioural approach to families with children with developmental disabilities and families involved in child abuse and neglect. A definition of ecobehavioural is provided, along with suggestions for future research.

Chronic illnesses in children and adolescents present difficulties for the individual and family. A family systems perspective can provide directions for assessment and intervention with these children and their families. A review is made of research on family interventions for children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), and the influence of intervention on health outcomes is discussed. Few family interventions, particularly behavioural family interventions, have been rigorously evaluated, but multisystemic models show promise for improving children's health outcomes and family adaptation to chronic illnesses.

Anxiety and fear are among the most common and distressing problems reported by children and adolescents. However, these problems have received little attention from behavioural family theorists and therapists. In this paper, we argue that more attention needs to be paid to evaluating the role of family interaction processes in the development and treatment of child anxiety disorders. A program of research is described including a treatment outcome study in which family processes and behavioural family intervention are evaluated with 7- to 14-year-old children with overanxious, separation anxiety, and avoidant disorders. The family treatment focuses on how parents interact with their child during displays of anxiety, their management of emotional upsets, and family communication and problem-solving skills. Preliminary results of the family treatment are presented.

This paper examines some of the policy issues arising from behavioural approaches to involving parents in improving their children's learning at school. Issues raised include (a) the researcher's role in establishing equitable partnerships between parents and teachers, (b) reducing educational inequalities, and (c) designing research to examine generalisation of children's learning across home and school settings, and the effects of implementing components of intervention at home and at school. The paper discusses particular challenges for applied behavioural research presented by each of these issues.

The prevention of severe psychopathology has long been held as a goal of psychological intervention with children. This paper examines the role of behavioural family intervention in the prevention of conduct problems in children. Components of a prevention model and their conceptual and empirical justification are outlined as well as some practical obstacles to the development of comprehensive, preventively oriented, mental health services for children and families. Possible directions for future research with high risk groups are discussed.