PCIA-II

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, depressed parents, parents at risk of child abuse, custodial grandparents, and victims of domestic violence. Research or clinical work with the instrument has taken place in the USA, Canada, Scotland, Italy, Hong Kong, and Australia. Clinicians may 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.

...the
PCIA-II/MAP is a manualized treatment that may be used with the
PCIA-II...

...for identifying parenting competencies and modifyng difficulties ...

If you are a researcher or clinician interested in learning more about the PCIA-II, please review the articles that are available at this site. You may want to begin by reading the PCIA-II administration instructions [PDF], the introductory article [PDF], and a paper on the PCIA-II's psychometrics [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.