“Home Practice Is the Program”: Correlates of Parents' Practice of Program Skills in the New Beginnings Program Effectiveness Trial

A critical element determining the long-term effects of prevention parenting programs is the extent to which parents adopt program skills with their families. An examination of who implements program skills at home and the quality with which skills are implemented can provide valuable information for 1) identifying participants who may require additional support or tailoring of program skills and 2) understanding core components of the program. The theory underlying the New Beginnings Program (NBP), an evidence-based parenting after divorce program, suggests that parenting strategies to promote relationship quality, communication, and positive discipline, and reduce child exposure to conflict will improve children’s outcomes following divorce. This theory has been supported through meditational analyses. In addition, the NBP’s process theory is that the “Home Practice Is the Program;” parents will changes in their children’s behavior only to the extent that they use the skills.

Employing data from the effectiveness trial of the NBP, involving 470 parents in 50 groups, the current study tests NBP’s theory by examining meditational associations between parents’ use of program targeted parenting skills, changes in parenting, and improvements in child outcomes. We also assess predictors of skill use, including parent characteristics and quality of program implementation. Home practice skill use was assessed via multi-rater measurement of parent use, self-efficacy, and competence in use of program skills. Preliminary analyses examining demographics predictors demonstrated that Latinos completed home practice less than non-Latinos and that this is partially explained by lower rates of attendance. Fathers also completed home practice less than mothers, despite equal levels of attendance. This relation appears to be explained by fathers’ reduced time with children as compared to mothers.