Paternal deprivation in treatment of conduct disorders : a study to determine the effects of active paternal involvement in the treatment of children diagnosed as conduct disorders

Abstract

This study is concerned with examining the father’s responsibilities for the disturbance of the child, and the increasing trend toward drawing him into the center of corrective child guidance procedures. It is an individual thesis written on a research project at a child guidance clinic undertaken by a student of the Maritime School of Social Work. It investigates the relationship between cases in which the father of a child-patient diagnosed as a conduct disorder becomes actively involved in the treatment of this child, as compared to those cases in which the father is not involved actively in treatment. Fifteen cases from the total of 247 cases that were assessed and diagnosed within the classification of Conduct Disorder at the Halifax Mental Health Clinic for Children during the calendar year 1962 through April, 1965 were the source of data. The 15 cases were divided into two unequal groups and the [underlined lowercase t]-ratio was the statistical test used to test the significance of difference between their means. It was found that whether the father of a child diagnosed as a conduct disorder was involved in active treatment of that child or not, had no significant difference on the length of treatment time. The small number of patients (whose treatment was terminated by the therapist) at the clinic gave some indication of the many difficulties in treating conduct disorders, and also the great need for implementing new techniques and resources.