Group Triple P with Foster Parents:
A Pilot Feasibility Study
Principal Investigator: Patricia Kohl, PhD, PI
Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
Timeframe: 03/08-10/08
Affiliation: Center for Mental Health Services Research (CMHSR)
Project Staff: Samantha Books
Megan Petra
Gayle Ervin
Teshaba Wadley
Almetra Johnson
Lora Gulley
Project Contact: Samantha Books
(314) 935-9545
Project Update as of 09/23/2009
Stage: Completed
Description:
Children victimized by child abuse and neglect (henceforth referred to as child maltreatment) often experience serious and costly mental health problems. There is a critical need to demonstrate the transportability of cost-effective, evidence-based interventions from traditional mental health service delivery settings to the child welfare system to target this particularly vulnerable population and reduce their risk for adverse distal outcomes. The child welfare system is in critical need of cost-effective, efficacious interventions to improve the mental health outcomes of maltreated children. The Positive Parenting Program (Triple P), a multi-layer behavioral family intervention, holds promise as an effective intervention with this population in that it has been shown to reduce child behavior problems and parental stress among a variety of parent populations, including parents of children with early onset conduct disorder, parents at risk of child maltreatment, depressed mothers, and parents experiencing marital conflict (Sanders et al., 2003; Sanders, Markie-Dadds, Tully & Bor, 2000; Sanders & McFarland, 2000). Furthermore, add-on modules (Pathways) have been developed to target the additional needs of parents at high risk of maltreatment (Sanders, Pidgeon, Gravestock, Conners, Brown & Young, 2004).
This program of research seeks to explore the feasibility of implementing Triple P with foster parents and Pathways Triple P with parents who have been referred to the Child Protective Services, “hotline” due to child abuse or neglect.
Children in foster care are high risk for behavior problems; yet, foster parents, defined here to include foster, relative and kin care providers, are not typically provided with the skills they need to manage the difficult behavior of the children in their care. Despite this lack of preparation, behavior problems are a frequent cause of placement disruptions. This instability may further exacerbate the child’s emotional and behavioral problems, often resulting in subsequent placement disruptions. Because child welfare systems are evaluated based on placement stability, and Missouri, like all other states, are currently not meeting the national Children and Family Services Review standards regarding the stability of children in foster care, foster parents are in need of effective interventions to reduce the number of times a child transitions from one placement to another while in foster care.
This pilot, to be funded through Washington University’s CMHSR’s Research Network Development Core, has three aims. The pilot study will:
1. Demonstrate local capacity to mount group Triple P to fidelity with foster parents.
2. Examine the recruitment, take-up and retention of foster parents to the group Triple P intervention in St. Louis.
3. Examine the reactions to Triple P materials of the workers assigned to the foster children and foster homes served through Triple P. This step will be preliminary to efforts to develop intervention protocol to teach these child welfare professionals the same parent management strategies employed in the Triple P intervention.
4. Examine preliminary data regarding changes in foster child behavior and foster parent parenting capacities, and placement stability.