ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the contributions and limitations of current approaches to family intervention and the prevention and treatment of child psychopathology and family distress. The rationale for the development, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive multilevel, preventively oriented parenting and family support intervention as a population intervention is described, as well as the scientific basis of this approach. Family intervention is defined broadly as a therapeutic process, which helps modify psychological distress of individuals by targeting their interpersonal relationships within the family. It concentrates on the application of models of behavioral family intervention (BFI) based on social learning theory. BFI has the strongest empirical support of any form of child psychotherapy or approaches to family intervention. A population perspective requires a range of effective family interventions to be available. The approach to promoting parental competence views the development of a parent's capacity for self-regulation as a central skill.
