Abstract
Child maltreatment is a significant public health problem best addressed through evidence-based parent-support programs. There is a wide range of programs with different strengths offering a variety of options for families. Choosing one single evidence-based program often limits the range of services available to meet the unique needs of families. This paper presents findings from a study to examine the systematic braiding of two evidence-based programs, Parents as Teachers and SafeCare at Home (PATSCH), with the goal to provide a more robust intervention for higher risk families. A cluster randomized effectiveness trial was conducted to examine if PATSCH improved parenting behaviors known to decrease the risk for child maltreatment compared to Parents as Teachers (PAT) Alone. Parents (N = 159; 92 PAT Alone; 67 PATSCH) were enrolled to complete a baseline, 6-month and 12-month assessment. Results indicate the groups did not differ on number of environmental hazards in the home, parents’ health care decision-making abilities, child abuse potential, and physical assault over time. However, with regard to the potential for child abuse, the PATSCH group showed a decrease in nonviolence discipline and increase in psychological aggression compared to the PAT group. Further research is needed to better examine this concept and its implications for the field.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to sincerely thank Hazel Shah for her assistance in cleaning and formatting the data.
Author Contributions
K.G.: designed and executed the study, oversaw and assisted with data analyses, and wrote the manuscript. B.S.L.: analyzed the data and wrote the results section of the manuscript. K.M.: executed the study and assisted in writing the manuscript. J.S.C., D.J.W. and S.S.B.: collaborated with the design of the study and assisted with writing and editing the final manuscript. A.K.: collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. J.R.L.: designed and oversaw the execution of the study and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript.
Funding
This research was supported by a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, PI: J.R. Lutzker. K. Guastaferro was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under award number T32DA017629. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIDA or the National Institutes of Health.
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J. R. Lutzker is the developer of SafeCare. The remaining authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Georgia State University Institute Review Board provided approval for this study.
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Guastaferro, K., Lai, B.S., Miller, K. et al. Braiding Two Evidence-Based Programs for Families At-Risk: Results of a Cluster Randomized Trial. J Child Fam Stud 27, 535–546 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0886-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0886-2