Media-based versus professionally led training for parents of mentally retarded children.

A media-based program for parents of mentally retarded children presented information on self-help skill teaching primarily through videotapes and instructional manuals. Sixty-one families were randomly assigned to media-based training, the same curriculum with a professional leader, or a delayed-training control condition. Media-trained families evaluated their program very positively and showed significantly greater gains than did control parents on all but one outcome measure. Live training increased parents' knowledge of behavioral principles more than did media-based training, but otherwise the results of the two conditions were quite similar. Media-based programs may be a cost-effective way to make parent training more widely available.