Introduction Growing numbers of children enter mainstream education without the skills needed to prosper in the school environment. Without additional support, these children face poor long-term ...outcomes in terms of academic attainment, mental health difficulties and social problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of school-based delivery of the Books Together dialogic book sharing program to groups of parents, and to explore whether it impacts parent and child outcomes in order to facilitate school readiness. Methods Parents of children aged 3–5 years old ( n = 16) were recruited from four North Wales primary schools. Video observations of parent/child interactions, a gaming format measure of expressive child language ability, parent-report measures of children’s behavior, and social-emotional ability and of their parental competence were collected pre- and post-intervention. Thematic analysis of interviews with parents and the school-based staff who delivered the program explored feasibility and acceptability of the program. Results Significant post-intervention increases in observed positive parenting and child expressive language skills and significant reductions in observed negative parenting were found. Parents reported significantly higher rates of child prosocial behavior and social/emotional ability as well as improved parenting competency at follow-up. Thematic analysis showed that staff and parents were satisfied with the program and that it was feasible to deliver in a school environment. Discussion The Books Together program is a low-cost intervention that, when delivered by school-based staff, shows promise for increasing the use of parenting strategies that build children’s language and social/emotional skills associated with school readiness.
Positive parenting promotes children's cognitive, social and emotional development and parenting programs based on social learning theory are effective in supporting parents to help reduce behavioral ...problems among high challenge children. However there is less evidence for programs with non-clinical populations. COPING (COnfident Parent INternet Guide) is a 10-week online universal program for parents of 3 - 8 year olds presenting evidence-informed principles based on social learning theory to support parents in addressing common challenges with their children. This study explored the development and feasibility of delivery of the program in terms of recruitment, retention and acceptability. It also reports on initial program effectiveness, evaluated via a pilot randomized controlled trial.
Data on child behavior, parental skills and mental health were collected at baseline and three months later for all participants and six months post-baseline for the intervention group only.
Those parents who accessed the course provided very positive feedback however the trial experienced challenges with recruitment and initial engagement, particularly for parents referred by professionals. For parents who engaged with the program there were significant improvements in reported parenting skills with evidence of longer-term maintenance.
This paper provides limited evidence of effectiveness for the COPING program however further feasibility work, particularly around recruitment, is needed before conducting larger effectiveness trials.
Purpose:
Violence against children increases in adolescence, but there is a research and practice gap in research-supported child abuse prevention for the adolescent years. A pilot program for ...low-resource settings was developed in collaboration with nongovernmental organizations, government, and academics in South Africa, using research-supported principles.
Method:
This study used a pre-post design to test initial effects of a 10-session parenting program with 60 participants (30 caregiver–adolescent dyads) in high-poverty rural South Africa. Areas requiring further testing and adaptation were also identified.
Results:
Pre-post findings show medium to large program effects in reducing child abuse and adolescent problem behavior, as well as large effects in improvements of positive parenting, and perceived parent and adolescent social support.
Discussion:
There is potential to reduce child abuse, improve parenting, and reduce adolescent problem behavior in rural South Africa through parenting programs. Further development, testing and longer term follow-up are required to ascertain potential for scale-up.
Reducing bullying is a public health priority. KiVa, a school-based anti-bullying programme, is effective in reducing bullying in Finland and requires rigorous testing in other countries, including ...the UK. This trial aims to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of KiVa in reducing child reported bullying in UK schools compared to usual practice. The trial is currently on-going. Recruitment commenced in October 2019, however due to COVID-19 pandemic and resulting school closures was re-started in October 2020.
Design: Two-arm pragmatic multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial with an embedded process and cost-effectiveness evaluation.
116 primary schools from four areas; North Wales, West Midlands, South East and South West England. Outcomes will be assessed at student level (ages 7-11 years; n = approximately 13,000 students).
KiVa is a whole school programme with universal actions that places a strong emphasis on changing bystander behaviour alongside indicated actions that provide consistent strategies for dealing with incidents of bullying. KiVa will be implemented over one academic year.
Usual practice.
Student-level bullying-victimisation assessed through self-report using the extensively used and validated Olweus Bully/Victim questionnaire at baseline and 12-month follow-up.
student-level bullying-perpetration; student mental health and emotional well-being; student level of, and roles in, bullying; school related well-being; school attendance and academic attainment; and teachers' self-efficacy in dealing with bullying, mental well-being, and burnout.
116 schools (58 per arm) with an assumed ICC of 0.02 will provide 90% power to identify a relative reduction of 22% with a 5% significance level.
recruited schools will be randomised on 1:1 basis stratified by Key-Stage 2 size and free school meal status. Process evaluation: assess implementation fidelity, identify influences on KiVa implementation, and examine intervention mechanisms. Economic evaluation: Self-reported victimisation, Child Health Utility 9D, Client Service Receipt Inventory, frequency of services used, and intervention costs. The health economic analysis will be conducted from a schools and societal perspective.
This two-arm pragmatic multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial will evaluate the KiVa anti-bullying intervention to generate evidence of the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and scalability of the programme in the UK. Our integrated process evaluation will assess implementation fidelity, identify influences on KiVa implementation across England and Wales and examine intervention mechanisms. The integrated health economic analysis will be conducted from a schools and societal perspective. Our trial will also provide evidence regarding the programme impact on inequalities by testing whether KiVa is effective across the socio-economic gradient.
Trials ISRCTN 12300853 Date assigned 11/02/2020.
Parenting interventions and conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes are promising strategies to reduce the risk of violence against children, but evidence of the effectiveness of combining such ...programmes is lacking for families in low- and middle-income countries with children over two years of age. This study examined the effectiveness of a locally adapted parenting programme delivered as part of a government CCT system to low-income families with children aged two to six years in Metro Manila, Philippines.
Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to either a 12-session group-based parenting programme or treatment-as-usual services (N = 120). Participation in either service was required among the conditions for receiving cash grants. Baseline assessments were conducted in July 2017 with one-month post-intervention assessments in January-February 2018 and 12-month follow-up in January-February 2019. All assessments were parent-report (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03205449).
One-month post-intervention assessments indicated moderate intervention effects for primary outcomes of reduced overall child maltreatment (d = -0.50 -0.86, -0.13), emotional abuse (d = -0.59 -0.95; -0.22), physical abuse (IRR = 0.51 0.27; 0.74), and neglect (IRR = 0.52 0.18; 0.85). There were also significant effects for reduced dysfunctional parenting, child behaviour problems, and intimate partner violence, and increased parental efficacy and positive parenting. Reduced overall maltreatment, emotional abuse, and neglect effects were sustained at one-year follow-up.
Findings suggest that a culturally adapted parenting intervention delivered as part of a CCT programme may be effective in sustaining reductions in violence against children in low- and middle-income countries.
This research was supported by UBS Optimus Foundation and UNICEF Philippines, and by the Complexity and Relationships in Health Improvement Programmes of the Medical Research Council MRC UK and Chief Scientist Office (Grant: MC_UU_00022/1 and CSO SPHSU16, MC_UU_00022/3 and CSO SPHSU18).
Background
COPING parent (Confident Parent Internet Guide) is an online universal parenting programme designed for parents of children aged 3-8 who are interested in learning positive parenting ...strategies to address everyday parenting challenges. Most people now have access to the internet and many parents seek online parenting advice, so it is important to ensure that advice is both evidence-based and freely available. The 10-week online COPING parent programme presents information and activities based on core social learning theory principles. The programme provides information and video examples of parenting skills, uses quizzes to test knowledge and suggests home practice activities. This study was undertaken to obtain feedback on the usefulness and acceptability of the programme to inform its further development.
Design and Methods
The programme was created using the LifeGuide software and participants (n=20) were asked to complete one chapter of the programme each week and provide feedback. This feasibility study was undertaken to highlight any technical issues and suggest modifications prior to a more rigorous evaluation.
Results
Both participant feedback and programme usage data are reported. Thirteen feedback forms were returned and programme usage data was downloaded for all participants. Feedback suggested modifications that included adaptations to enable the programme to be accessed by tablet users, an option to look back over previously completed chapters, the inclusion of more video examples of positive parenting and text message prompting to address attrition challenges.
Childhood adversities, such as poor parental practices, exposure to violence, and risk behaviours strongly impact children's future mental and behavioural problems. Adversities affect families living ...in disadvantaged environments and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to a greater extent than in high-income countries. Parenting programmes are an effective way to alleviate them, although their outreach and scalability is still limited in LMICs.
A multi-site randomised controlled trial will be conducted in North Macedonia, Republic of Moldova and Romania to test the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of an optimised version of the promising Parenting for Lifelong Health Programme for Young Children (PLH-YC, 5 sessions), against a standard lecture on parenting issues (control group, 1 session). At least 864 participants who report having children between 2 and 9 years old who display elevated levels of behavioural difficulties will be randomised on a 1:1 basis to the intervention and control groups. The primary outcome will consist of parent report of child oppositional aggressive behaviour. Post-test (four months) and follow-up (12 months) assessments will provide information on short- and longer-term effects of PLH-YC compared to the parenting lecture in the control group.
This randomised trial will test the efficacy of PLH-YC in alleviating child behavioural problems and assess the cost-effectiveness, transportability across three different cultural contexts, and potential for scalability of the programme.
ClinicalTrials.gov ., Registration number: NCT04721730 ( https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04721730 ). Registered 13.01.2021.
A case study reviewing the establishment of the evidence-based Incredible Years programme in Wales, describing the rationale for selecting the programme, the outcomes achieved in Wales, and the ...influence on policy leading to a Wales-wide dissemination strategy. The UK context features a growing trend towards evidence-based anti-violence services and significant increases in funding for early intervention. Factors that contributed to the success of this project included careful selection of a programme with evidence, establishing a local evidence base for it, ensuring that information was disseminated to government and service providers, and the need to build in a sustainability plan. The biggest challenge, lack of leader time and resources to deliver the programme effectively, is explored and solutions from Wales, including leader feedback surveys and manager training days are described. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
The typical pattern for intervention outcome studies for conduct problems has been for effect sizes to dissipate over time with decreasing effects across subsequent follow-ups.
To establish whether ...the short-term positive effects of a parenting programme are sustained longer term. To observe trends, and costs, in health and social service use after intervention.
Parents with children aged 36-59 months at risk of developing conduct disorder (n = 104) received intervention between baseline and first follow-up (6 months after baseline n = 86) in 11 Sure Start areas in North Wales. Follow-ups two (n = 82) and three (n = 79) occurred 12 and 18 months after baseline. Child problem behaviour and parenting skills were assessed via parent self-report and direct observation in the home.
The significant parent-reported improvements in primary measures of child behaviour, parent behaviour, parental stress and depression gained at follow-up one were maintained to follow-up three, as were improved observed child and parent behaviours. Overall, 63% of children made a minimum significant change (0.3 standard deviations) on the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory problem scale between baseline and follow-up (using intention-to-treat data), 54% made a large change (0.8 standard deviations) and 39% made a very large change (1.5 standard deviations). Child contact with health and social services had reduced at follow-up three.
Early parent-based intervention reduced child antisocial behaviour and benefits were maintained, with reduced reliance on health and social service provision, over time.
Parental involvement in their childrens education, including activities undertaken by parents at home and through strong links with their childrens schools, contributes to childrens academic ...attainment. This study examined whether it was feasible for school-based staff to deliver the Incredible Years® School Readiness parent programme (IY-SR) in schools, its acceptability to parents and teachers, its impact on home-school relationships, and preliminary programme impact. Thirty-two parents with a child in a nursery or reception class were recruited from eight schools. Group leaders and parents gave positive feedback about the programme and parental attendance on the programme was high. There were also significant increases in parents use of praise and childrens positive responses. This is the first study to demonstrate the feasibility of engaging schools to deliver the IY-SR programme as a means of promoting home-school relationships and providing parents with the skills to coach their childrens school readiness skills.
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