Adapting and Testing a Prison-Based Parent Training Program for Incarcerated Fathers and Mothers of Elementary School Aged Boys and Girls

Purpose

Since 1991, the number of U.S. children with an imprisoned parent has increased by 80%, affecting more than 1.7 million children in 2007. Estimates also suggest that millions of additional children have a parent in jail, although the actual number of affected children is unknown because this information is not systematically collected by correctional, school, or other service systems. The children of parents involved with the criminal justice system are at risk for involvement in the child welfare system. In most studies, from 5 to 10% of incarcerated parents have children in foster care per se, but involvement with the system at large may be much greater, particularly for incarcerated mothers.  In this presentation, we describe the adaptation process we used with evidence-based parent management training interventions to create Parenting Inside Out (PIO). Working closely with inmates, the caregivers of their children, and parent educators working with correctional settings, PIO was designed for delivery to groups of incarcerated parents and was intended to provide parents with motivation, knowledge and skills relevant to their role in the prevention of the development of antisocial behavior and associated problem behaviors in their children. We then present follow-up findings from a large scale randomized controlled trial of PIO conducted with incarcerated mothers and fathers.

Method

Incarcerated parents were recruited from all 14 state correctional institutions (i.e., prisons and work camps) in Oregon, but the study was conducted within four minimum or medium security level prisons (3 for men, 1 for women) that were designated as “releasing institutions”, where inmates were sent during the months prior to their release. Of the 1483 inmates who expressed interest in the study and who were screened, 453 were eligible. Approximately 80% of eligible inmates consented to participate, and thus participants (N = 359) were 161 incarcerated men and 198 incarcerated women. 59% of participants were White, 13% African American, 11% multi-racial, 8% Native American, and 8% Latino. Participants were randomly assigned to PIO or to a services as usual control group, and then assessed prior to the intervention, following the intervention (both assessments occurred in prison) and then 6 months and 12 months following the intervention. A wide variety of parent and child constructs were evaluated, with a focus on behavioral and affective outcomes.

Results

PIO had a significant impact on incarcerated parents while in prison in three areas of particular importance, parent adjustment, parent-caregiver relationships, and parenting. Further, PIO impacted post-release outcomes, most notably in the area of criminality and substance use.

Implications

Parent management training appears to have promise in engaging incarcerated parents and in impacting behaviors important to parenthood. The complexity of the lives of criminal justice involved parents is great, including homelessness, poverty, unemployment, substance abuse problems, and child welfare involvement, and programs like PIO address one of several important sets of issues for this population.