Implementing and evaluating empirically based family and school programmes for children with conduct problems in Norway

Abstract

This paper discusses the implementation and evaluation of two family and community based intervention programmes for children and young people implemented in Norway, namely Parent Management Training (PMTO) (Ogden and Amlund Hagen in press) and Multisystemic Therapy (Ogden and Halliday-Boykins 2004; Ogden and Amlund-Hagen 2006), and a school-wide intervention programme, PALS (Sørlie and Ogden 2007). In PALS universal interventions are combined with treatment by offering PMTO to the parents of the high risk children. The Norwegian experiences and results also illustrate how evidence-based programs developed in the US have been transported across geographical and language borders, implemented nationwide, evaluated for their effectiveness in regular practice and examined for sustainability. This paper describes this national strategy, and the main components and immediate outcomes of the PMTO- and PALS-programmes in Norway.