Session: Technological Innovations in Delivery of Evidence-Based Parenting Programs Targeting Child Maltreatment Risk (Society for Prevention Research 22nd Annual Meeting)

This organized paper symposium will present 3 federally-funded projects utilizing innovative technology to augment evidence-based parenting interventions for at-risk parents of children ages infancy-5 years. The introduction will focus on the rationale for utilizing technology to enhance the public health impact of prevention efforts targeting child maltreatment (CM) risk by expanding the reach of programs, as well as enhancing the engagement of participants.

The first study is a CDC-Funded study that included a randomized controlled trial of mothers (n=371) experiencing CM risk factors. Mothers were randomly assigned either SafeCare^® Planned Activities Training (PAT), cell phone enhanced PAT (CPAT), or a wait-list control. Results of this multi-year study indicated that mothers in the CPAT group were more likely to complete the intervention than mothers in the PAT group. At post-test and the 6-month follow-up assessments, both intervention groups showed improved child behavior at 6-months follow-up, but only children in the CPAT group had higher adaptive behavior skills. Relationships between parenting improvements and improved child outcomes were found: parenting skills predicted child cooperative behavior; decreased parenting stress predicted improved child adaptive behavior; and maternal depression predicted children’s internalizing behaviors. The most striking results from the study are minimized parent attrition, and the large treatment effects that were maintained over time in both conditions.

The second presentation will describe preliminary results from a randomized control trial with 150 mother/infant dyads assigned to either:  adapted remotely-delivered interactive Internet intervention that includes 3 components: (a) the PALS course; (b) video feedback and weekly coaching; and (c) social media support OR  attention-control condition. After recruiting from rural and urban Oregon and Kansas, mothers are randomized to either intervention or attention-control conditions. The  Cohort 1 is completed and thus far, participants have completed an average of 6 sessions out of 11 sessions. There is a wide variation in the amount of time mothers are currently spending in the program, with an average of 11.33 hours (SD=10.26), 1.03 hrs per session (SD=10.27) and an average of 5.45 (SD=2.10) log-ins to the social network. This paper will conclude with a presentation of future research directions.

The third study is a NIH-funded study examining a technology-enhanced module of SafeCare for fathers. The grant is in the first year of funding, and the work conducted to date has focused on the development of computer software to deliver components of the SafeCare module to fathers, as well as beta testing (N=5) and pilot testing of the program (N=4) . Results from the pilot trial show high program acceptance and trends for substantial improvement in father-child interaction. Future directions will be discussed, which include a randomized control trial with 120 fathers, to test the technology-enhanced program compared to a no-intervention control group on risk factors pertaining to CM (scheduled to start 11/13).