A brief program improves counseling of mothers with children who have persistent aggression.

Objective: To assess whether a multimedia program can affect counseling behavior related to one of the strongest risk factors for violence later in life, persistent early childhood aggression.

Method: The design was a controlled trial with unobtrusive measurement in a clinic setting. A researcher, pretending to be the mother of a 2 ½ year old boy, called 19 pediatric residents during clinic hours and requested advice on how to manage her child's persistently hurtful behavior.

A multimedia violence prevention program increases pediatric residents' and childcare providers' knowledge about responding to childhood aggression.

A pre-post knowledge test using alternate forms was used to determine if a multimedia violence prevention program can increase knowledge about management of childhood aggression. The participants were pediatric residents and childcare workers who attended lectures about aggression management in young children. The intervention was a presentation of a 30 minute CD-ROM program, Play Nicely, which teaches how to manage aggression in young children ages 1 to 7 years.