Share This:
Primary Research and Clinical Interests
Marion S. Forgatch, PhD, Senior Scientist Emerita, spent much of her career working with the group that eventually became OSLC. She developed and tested programs for families whose children are at-risk for substance abuse and adjustment problems. Her program Parenting through Change (PTC) is recognized as an “Effective Program” in the National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices (NREPP). For the past 10 years, Dr. Forgatch and her team have adapted and applied PTC for use with diverse populations, including non-English speaking Latinos, mothers living in shelters to escape homelessness or violence, parents with severely emotionally disturbed children, and parents whose children have been removed for reasons of abuse/neglect. Currently the program is being adapted for soldiers reintegrating home following service in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. She and her team have conducted several large-scale implementation projects including: PMTO statewide in Michigan in Community Mental Health (CMH) Centers for severely emotionally disturbed children; PMTO nationwide in Norway, Iceland, the Netherlands, and PMTO in CMH and Juvenile Justice Centers in Detroit-Wayne County in Michigan. An additional focus for Dr. Forgatch’s work includes the development and application of direct observation measures of family interaction to evaluate changes in family process and intervention sessions to evaluate fidelity in implementing the PMTO model. Forgatch has co-authored numerous journal articles, book chapters, audio and video tapes for parents, and two books. She has received two awards from Society of Prevention Research: Friend of the Early Career Prevention Network in 2003 and the Award for International Collaborative Prevention Research in 2008 and is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.
Selected Publications
Basha, S. A. J., Cai, Q., Domenech Rodriguez, M. M., Gewirtz, A. H., Sigmarsdóttir, M., DeGarmo, D. S., Uribe, M., & Forgatch, M. S. (2026). Stability amidst change in the measurement of implementation fidelity over time. Prevention Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-025-01864-1
Sigmarsdóttir, M., Arnesen, A., Apeland, A. K., Guðmundsdóttir, B. G., Tacq, E., Hallmann, H., & Forgatch, M. S. (2025). Strengthening Parenting Among Refugees in Europe (SPARE): A Collaborative Feasibility and Acceptability Study Among Four European Nations. International Journal of Psychology, 60(5), e70094. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.70094
Sigmarsdóttir, M., Domenech Rodríguez, M. M., Gewirtz, A., Rains, L., Tjaden, J., & Forgatch, M. S. (2023). Five-year fidelity assessment of an evidence-based parenting program (GenerationPMTO): Inter-rater reliability following international implementation. BMC Health Services Research, 23(1), 576. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09611-4
Sigmarsdóttir, M., Arnesen, A., & Forgatch, M. S. (2023). Strengthening parenting among refugees in Europe (SPARE): Initial feasibility in Iceland and Norway. Nordic Psychology, 76(2), 186-209. https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2023.2175231
Holtrop, K., Durtschi, J. A., & Forgatch, M. S. (2022). Investigating active ingredients of the GenerationPMTO intervention: Predictors of postintervention change trajectories in parenting practices. Journal of Family Psychology, 36(2), 212–224. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000925
Holtrop, K., Miller, D. L., Durtschi, J. A., & Forgatch, M. S. (2021). Development and evaluation of a component level implementation fidelity rating system for the GenerationPMTO intervention. Prevention Science, 22(3), 288–298. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-020-01177-5
Rains, L. A., Sigmarsdóttir, M., & Forgatch, M. S. (2020). Development and implementation of an evidence-based parent management training intervention. In M. E. Feinberg, Designing Evidence-Based Public Health and Prevention Programs(1st ed., pp. 72–91). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367205171-8
Askeland, E., Forgatch, M. S., Apeland, A., Reer, M., & Grønlie, A. A. (2019). Scaling up an Empirically Supported Intervention with Long-Term Outcomes: The Nationwide Implementation of GenerationPMTO in Norway. Prevention Science, 20(8), 1189–1199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-019-01047-9
Dishion, T. J., Forgatch, M. S., Van Ryzin, M., & Winter, C. E. (2012). The nonlinear dynamics of family problem solving in adolescence: The predictive validity of a peaceful resolution attractor. Journal of Nonlinear Dynamics in Psychology and Life Sciences, 16, 331-352.
Parra Cardona, J. R. P., Domenech-Rodriguez, M., Forgatch, M. S., Sullivan, C., Bybee, D., Holtrop, K., Escobar-Chew, A. R., Tams, L., Dates, B., & Bernal, G. (2012). Culturally adapting an evidence-based parenting intervention for Latino immigrants: The need to integrate fidelity and cultural relevance. Family Process, 51(1), 56-72.
Wachlarowicz, M., Snyder, J., Low, S., Forgatch, M. S., & DeGarmo, D. S. (2012). The moderating effects of parent antisocial characteristics on the effects of Parent Management Training – Oregon (PMTO). Prevention Science, 13, 229-240.
DeGarmo, D. S., & Forgatch, M. S. (2012). A confidant support and problem solving model of divorced fathers’ parenting. American Journal of Community Psychology, 49, 258-269.
Gewirtz, A. H., Erbes, C., Polusny, M. A., Forgatch, M. S., & DeGarmo, D. S. (2011). Helping military families through the deployment process: Strategies to support parenting. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 42, 56-62.
Forgatch, M. S., & DeGarmo, D. S. (2011). Sustaining fidelity following the nationwide PMTO Implementation in Norway. Prevention Science, 12, 235-246.
Patterson, G. R., Forgatch, M. S., & DeGarmo, D. S. (2010). Cascading effects following intervention. Development and Psychopathology, 22 (Special Issue 04), 949-970.
Forgatch, M. S., & Patterson, G. R. (2010). The Oregon Model of Parent Management Training (PMTO): An intervention for antisocial behavior in children and adolescents. In J. R. Weisz & A. E. Kazdin (Eds.), Evidence based psychotherapies for children and adolescents (2nd. ed., pp. 159-178) New York: Guilford.
Forgatch, M. S., Patterson, G. R., DeGarmo, D. S., & Beldavs, Z. G. (2009). Testing the Oregon Delinquency Model with 9-year follow-up of the Oregon Divorce Study. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 637-660.
Ogden, T., Forgatch, M. S., Askeland, E., Patterson, G. R., & Bullock, B. M. (2005). Implementation of parent management training at the national level: The case of Norway. Journal of Social Work Practice, 19, 317-329.
Forgatch, M. S., Patterson, G. R., & DeGarmo, D. S. (2005). Evaluating fidelity: Predictive validity for a measure of competent adherence to the Oregon Model of Parent Management Training. Behavior Therapy, 36, 3-13.
Forgatch, M. S., DeGarmo, D. S., & Beldvas, Z. G. (2005). An efficacious theory-based intervention for stepfamilies. Behavior Therapy, 36(4), 357-365.
DeGarmo, D. S., Patterson, G. R., & Forgatch, M. S. (2004). How do outcomes in a specified parent training intervention maintain or wane over time? Prevention Science, 5, 73-89.
Martinez, C. R., Jr., & Forgatch, M. S. (2001). Preventing problems with boys’ noncompliance: Effects of a parent training intervention for divorcing mothers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69, 416-428.
Forgatch, M. S., & DeGarmo, D. S. (1999). Parenting through change: An effective parenting training program for single mothers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 711-724.