Pedagogues Promoting Positive Parenting in a Home-visiting Program in At-risk Families: A RCT of VIPP-SD

University of Copenhagen130 enrolled

Overview

Supportive parenting is a strong predictor of positive outcomes for children, and harsh parenting is a risk factor for child development, especially for the child developing externalizing problems (overactive, oppositional, and aggressive behavior). Externalizing problems in preschoolers are predictive of a variety of problems in later childhood. Thus, parents are key targets for change in preventive programs with children at risk for developing externalizing problems. More than 95% of 2-6 year old Danish children spend an average of 7.5 hours, 5 days a week in a daycare setting, thus pedagogues are key frontline staff in the promotion of parental abilities and early childhood mental health. However, a recent Danish study shows that pedagogues experience a need for systematic skills and methods for intervening in families with a child at risk. Attachment-based programs enhancing parental sensitivity and parental sensitive discipline show promising results. This efficacy study examines the Video-feedback Intervention to Promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD)delivered by 22 VIPP-SD trained pedagogues at home-visits to 120 families with a child (1-6 years) identified to be at risk. Pedagogues are supervised by four VIPP municipality psychologists, thus promoting the cross-disciplinary collaboration. The results will point to future identification of families that may (and may not) profit from a pedagogue delivered VIPP-SD intervention, as well as to revise the intervention in order to maximizing its effect, i.e. point to changes to tailor intervention to the particular needs of different families in a Danish context.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

130

Conditions

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 2 YearsMax age: 6 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Child 2-6 year old * Parent must be more than 18 years old * Parent must speak and understand Danish * Family must live in the municipalities of Frederiksberg or Roskilde - and having no intentions of moving out of the municipality before after the intervention has ended * Parent can attend other treatment initiatives * Child must attend a daycare center in one of the two municipalities * Child must be at risk of developing externalizing behavior, i.e. showing signs of overactive, oppositional, and aggressive behavior. Exclusion criteria * Sexual or physical abuse by parent * Parental drug or alcohol abuse * Child diagnosis of autism * Child is not considered at risk of developing externalizing behavior problems, but may have other problems, such as delayed language or motordevelopment etc

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Parental attitudes toward sensitivity and sensitive discipline (ATSSD)

Questionnaire regarding parents' attitudes towards parenting (Bakermans-Kranenburg \& Van IJzendoorn, 2003)