Mental health professionals use the PCIA-II
to understand how parents and children play together. During the
PCIA-II, parents and children are filmed as they go on a make-believe
trip to the zoo. Later, the parents and children are each shown
parts of the video recording and are asked questions about their play.
...Parents and children are
filmed as they go on a make-believe trip to the zoo...
This type of psychological
test is called a structured direct observation procedure.
Clinicians and researchers view the video of the observed interaction to
understand aspects of the parent, the child, and how they are
relating with one another across various situations. It is also
important to understand the parent and child's subjective understanding
of their behaviors, which is why they are asked to comment on
the video recording during the video-recall procedure.
...to understand how they
relate across situations...
The
PCIA-II was developed from the collaboration of psychologists
and graduate students at The Menninger Clinic, University of North
Texas, and the University of Indianapolis. Data from PCIA-II video recordings
are coded through the thematic analysis of narratives or the quantitative
analysis of coded media. Several behavioral codes have been developed
for the PCIA-II, such as child aggression, negative and positive
personal comments, physical nurturance, parent negative affect,
parent control, disruption of play, parent attunement, parent disengagement,
self-reliance, and other-reliance.
The
PCIA-II has been used in the study of children with ADHD,
children with disruptive behavior disorders, community samples,
and Hong Kong and European-American parents and children. Clinicians
also use the PCIA-II as part of the PCIA-II/MAP intervention that involves collaborating with parents to build upon strengths and recognize and modify negative attributions. New initiatives
involve the collection of data on custodial grandparent-grandchild
dyads, depressed mothers, and women victims of domestic violence.
...the
PCIA-II/MAP is a manualized treatment that may be used with the
PCIA-II...
If you are a researcher
or clinician interested in learning more about the PCIA-II,
please review the articles that are posted to this site. You may
want to begin with reading the PCIA-II administration instructions
[PDF]
and the introductory article [PDF].
Other peer reviewed journal articles are available by following
the download link;
and there is also a link to descriptions of current projects.
For additional information about whether the PCIA-II would fit
with your project or how to obtain a PCIA-II kit, please email Dr. Holigrocki or Dr. Kaminski.