Are They Doing Equally Good Job? Child Outcomes of Parenting Programs for Different Sectors of Care

PRESENTATION TYPE: Individual Poster

CATEGORY/THEME: Research, Policy and Practice 

TITLE: Are they doing equally good job? Child outcomes of parenting programs for different sectors of care 

ABSTRACT BODY:

Introduction: Parenting programs are frequently used today to reduce child problem behavior. In Sweden they are typically delivered by three sectors of care: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Social care, and School health. The three sectors differ quite substantially in terms of organization, children’s problem levels, and the group leaders’ professions. No previous study have examined whether reductions in child problem behavior differ for parenting programs depending on whether personnel at Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Social care, or School health are the group leaders. Here, we examined if changes in reductions in child problem behavior from the start to the end of parenting programs were the same or different for the three sectors of care. 

Methods: This study use pre- and posttest data from a randomized control trial simultaneously evaluating four of the most established parenting programs in Sweden: The Incredible Years, COPE, Connect, and COMET (similar to Parenting Training: Oregon). Participants in this study were 27 units within Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Social care, and School health. These units could offer two of the four programs examined. The different units recruited 749 families, with a child aged 4 thru 12 years. The families were randomized to two of the four parenting programs (and a third of the parents were randomized to a waitlist). Of the 635 families who started a parenting program, we have complete data for 95%. We investigated initial differences at sector level on socio-demographic characteristics. Outcome measures were the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory and Snap-IV (Swanson, 1992). Using GLM, we compared the reduction in child problem behavior outcomes of the parenting programs for the three sectors.

Results: No significant differences were found among the sectors concerning socio-demographic characteristics. However, children’s initial problem levels differed significantly, with the children at Child and Adolescent Psychiatric care having the highest problem levels and the children at School health having the lowest. At posttest, significant reductions in all problem behaviors were found (ES = .20 - .57). These decrease where independent of sector of care.

Conclusions: The different sectors of care seem to do the same good job, as the decreases in the child problem behavior were parallel for the sectors. The findings have clear implications both for general prevention policies, like resource allocation, and prevention practices, such as enhanced collaboration between sectors.