The focus of this report is the implementation of the Incredible Years Programme (IYP) in Galway City. The report explores the process of developing the Incredible Years Programme in Galway City with a particular focus on the evaluation of the implementation and outcomes of the Dina in the Classroom (Pre-School) Programme.

The IYP is designed to promote social and emotional competencies in children aged 3-10 years. The IYP which was developed in the University of Washington, Seattle by Professor Carolyn Webster-Stratton contains three separate training programmes, one for parents, teachers and children. Whilst each programme is designed as a stand-alone intervention, taken together they provide a cohesive and uniform strategy to address and eliminate behavioural difficulties for children.

The IYP is designed to meet the needs of children with behavioural difficulties in the widest sense of the term. This encompasses a broad spectrum of behaviours from mildly disruptive to severely destructive which can present in the home and school, particularly among younger children. Yet this can also result in anti-social activities among adolescents and young people. Behavioural difficulties have a conduct dimension characterised by aggression, defiance and destructiveness as well as an emotional dimension, which is marked by negative affect and deficits in peer relations and pro-social behaviour.