The Incredible Years Parent, Teacher and Child Programs: Foundations and Future

Webster-Stratton, C. (2020). The Incredible Years Parent, Teacher and Child Programs: Foundations and Future. In M.E. Feinberg (Ed.), Designing Evidence-Based Public Health and Prevention Programs: Expert Program Developers Explain the Science and Art. England: Routledge.

Innovation of Incredible Years: Where We Have Been and Where Do We Go From Here?

At this late stage in my career I am often asked:

What prompted you to develop the Incredible Years (IY) programs 40 · years ago? What was your motivation for the collaborative group and video mediated methods you used in your intervention programs to change parent, teacher, and child behaviors? Why did you choose a group collaborative approach over the traditional one-on-one approach? How did your research career come about?

As I look back now on my life journey, I confess there never was a master plan to become an academic professor, or to develop a business training others. Rather just the opposite, my primary goal was to become a better clinician to help families and children. The growth and development of the IY programs seems to have come about because of personal experiences, a particular passion, research studies, collective action, and ultimately a measure of serendipity.

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