A behavior therapy program was designed to teach new coping skills to child abusing parents. Specific training procedures focused on child management techniques and subsequent sessions included training in communications skills, marital counseling and assertion training skills as required to attain specified client goals. Training was carried out either in a clinic office or in the patient's home; these sites were compared to determine the cost-effectiveness of therapeutic gains made in either setting. Multiple measures of therapeutic change (behavioral and attitudinal) and problem reduction suggest two marked effects of the program. First, in-home clients increased parenting skills twice as much (with duration of training held constant) as clients seen in the clinic office but trained using the same program. Second, positive shifts in attitudes toward children and parent role were 300 percent greater for the in-home clients. Cost data shows no advantage for either treatment site. (Author)