ABSTRACT
Many parents’ descriptions of their children’s behaviour tend to be global and problem-focused. If the parents have completed them, they need to receive immediate positive feedback for this. General practitioners need to thank them and look at the parent to ensure that all of the questions have been answered and then explain that general practitioners will be using them in their case analysis and giving feedback on them at that stage. The record-keeping task has to be designed with care to ensure that it is within the capabilities of the parent, but all parents are capable of simple frequency records and many can do much more. Parents are asked to keep records on a specific problem that they have already reported and/or may have been identified during the typical day interview. Parental record keeping is an important part of the intervention process.
