Preventing Child Maltreatment: Results from a Pilot Study of a Trauma-Informed Parenting Intervention

Background and Purpose: The Breakthrough Parenting Curriculum (BPC) is an intervention developed for parents who have experienced trauma and are involved with or at risk for involvement with the child welfare system (CWS). It consists of a parenting group that aims to enhance trauma-related knowledge and parenting skills. The groups cover 10 modules that include topics such as understanding the effects of trauma, resilience, stress response and regulation, trauma-informed parenting techniques, and self-care. Principles of collaboration and social justice were integrated throughout the BPC. An interdisciplinary team which included parents with lived experience and racial equity consultants developed the intervention. Also, a parent with lived experience with the CWS co-facilitates the group.

This presentation will describe the BPC and share outcomes from a pilot study conducted by an interdisciplinary team. The study explored the following questions: (1) Do parents who participate in the BPC show greater improvements than parents in a comparison group in trauma-informed knowledge and skills, parent self-efficacy, parent well-being, and child well-being? (2) How satisfied are participants with the BPC? and (3) What are participants’ perceptions on how BPC impacted their parenting?

Methods: A quasi-experimental design was used with a sample of 40 parents. Participants were assigned to the intervention group (n = 20) or a waitlist comparison group (n = 20). Participants were 35 years old on average and were largely female and white/non-Hispanic. Participants completed surveys at the start (pre-test) and end (post-test) of the intervention. The surveys included scales measuring parenting self-efficacy (Parenting Self Efficacy Scale), parent well-being (WHO-5 Well Being Index), trauma-informed knowledge (researcher-created), trauma-informed parenting skills (researcher-created), and child well-being (SDQ). The post-test survey also included a 10-item satisfaction scale and open-ended questions about the BPC (i.e., what was helpful and how it impacted their parenting). Repeated measures ANOVA models were run to test for significant differences between the intervention group and comparison group in the amount of change between pre- and post-test.

Results:
Relative to the comparison group, the treatment group had a significantly greater increase in trauma-informed knowledge (p =.004, η_p² = 0.29) and parenting skills (p =.016, η_p² = 0.22), parenting self-efficacy (p =.030, η_p² = 0.19), and parent well-being (p =.030, η_p² = 0.18). The treatment group also had a significantly larger reduction in children’s behavioral problems relative to the comparison group (p =.050).

Parents’ mean scores on the items measuring satisfaction with the BPC were 4.7 or greater on a 5-point scale. Parents reported that they felt more supported and less alone because of their participation, and that the BPC enhanced their ability to be patient and more present, listen to their children, and understand their child’s behaviors.

Conclusions and Implications: BPC is a promising intervention to support parents whose trauma histories place them at risk for CWS involvement. A larger study with randomization and a more nationally representative and diverse sample is needed to test the effectiveness of the BPC. Future studies should also examine whether it achieves the longer-term goal of preventing CWS involvement.