MedPath

Positive Parenting Program in Foster Care

Not Applicable
Recruiting
Conditions
Child Behavior Problem
Child Behavior Disorders
Parenting
Foster Care
Interventions
Behavioral: PriCARE
Registration Number
NCT03910491
Lead Sponsor
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Brief Summary

The purpose of the study is to evaluate early implementation outcomes of a positive parenting program, Child Adult Relationship Enhancement in Primary Care (PriCARE), in the foster care setting and to assess the efficacy of PriCARE in promoting positive parenting and increasing empathy among foster caregivers.

Detailed Description

Children in foster care have disproportionately high rates of mental and behavioral health concerns. Foster caregivers have reported challenges managing such difficult behaviors. Such behaviors are associated with placement instability. Child Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE), an evidence-based positive parenting intervention, has shown promising findings in the primary care setting and its curriculum has been enhanced (PriCARE). This positive parenting intervention offers a promising strategy to provide foster caregivers with the skills needed to address these behavioral problems. The objectives of this study are 1) to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of PriCARE, a positive parenting intervention, in the foster care setting 2) to assess the efficacy of PriCARE to promote positive parenting, increase empathy among foster caregivers, and improve parenting efficacy and satisfaction and 3) to identify best practices for implementation and dissemination of PriCARE in the foster care setting. Foster caregivers of foster children 18 months-6 years of age in the Philadelphia child welfare system will be enrolled in this study. Foster caregivers must be English-speaking and age 18 years or older. Foster caregivers will be recruited from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Fostering Health Program, CHOP primary care sites, CHOP Safe Place Care Clinics, direct referrals from social workers and medical providers, and from referrals from Philadelphia foster care agencies and organizations. Sixty foster caregivers will be enrolled in the study and will be assigned to the enhanced PriCARE program. Each approximately 9 hour CARE training group will be attended by approximately 4-12 caregivers without their children. An initial interview will be conducted prior to initiation of the PriCARE program and will include measures to obtain baseline data regarding demographic information, parenting attitudes and parenting strategies. A second interview will be conducted 4-10 weeks after PriCARE program completion and will include a semi-structured qualitative interview as well as measures of parenting attitudes and parenting strategies.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
60
Inclusion Criteria
  1. Foster caregiver is age 18 years or older
  2. Caregiver is a foster parent of a foster child between 18 months and 6 years of age
  3. English-speaking
  4. Foster caregiver provides informed consent
Exclusion Criteria
  1. Foster caregivers who have previously completed CARE or PriCARE training.

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
SINGLE_GROUP
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
InterventionPriCAREAll participants who enroll in the study will be assigned to a PriCARE group program that will adhere to the approximately 9 hour PriCARE curriculum.The trainings are administered to groups of approximately 4-12 caregivers at a time and are led by 2 mental health providers trained in the PriCARE curriculum. The curriculum will be delivered in 2-6 sessions over a 2-20 week period.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Rate of participant attendance to PriCARE training sessionsfollow-up (6 wks post-intervention)

Attendance to number of sessions will be measured

Number of participants enrolled in PriCARE interventionfollow-up (6 wks post-intervention)

Foster caregiver enrollment in the intervention will be measured

Retention rate of participants in PriCAREfollow-up (6 wks post-intervention)

Retention in the PriCARE intervention will be measured

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
The change in Parenting Sense of Competence score between baseline and follow-up visitbaseline (pre-intervention) and follow-up (4-10 wks post-intervention)

Assess the efficacy of PriCARE on improving parenting satisfaction and efficacy as measured by the Parenting Sense of Competence scale. The Parenting Sense of Competence Scale is a 17-item self-report questionnaire that assesses parenting competence in two dimensions - parenting satisfaction and parenting efficacy using a 6-point scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." Higher scores indicate higher parenting self-esteem.

Understanding foster caregiver perspectives on parenting and the impact of the PriCARE intervention on their parenting through qualitative interviewsbaseline (pre-intervention) and follow-up (4-10 wks post-intervention)

A brief semi-structured interview will be conducted during first interview to understand foster caregiver's motivations and attitudes of foster parenting. At the follow-up visit, a more in-depth individual semi-structured interview will be conducted in order to understand foster caregiver's perspectives of their role as a foster parent, their relationship with their foster child, their perceived stress, and their perspectives on the PriCARE intervention and strategies for improving it.

Therapeutic Attitude Inventory (TAI) scorefollow-up (4-10 wks post-intervention)

The investigators will use the TAI score to evaluate foster caregiver perceptions on the efficacy of the PriCARE intervention as measured by the Therapeutic Attitudes Inventory (TAI). The Therapeutic Attitude Inventory (TAI) is a brief 10 question satisfaction measure of parent training and parent-child treatments. Higher scores indicate greater satisfaction with the intervention.

Change in Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory-2 (AAPI-2) score between baseline and follow-up visitbaseline (pre-intervention) and follow-up (4-10 wks post-intervention)

Assess the efficacy of PriCARE on decreasing harsh parenting and increasing parental empathy as measured by the AAPI-2. The AAPI-2 is a 40-item self-report measure using a 5 point scale. Responses are converted to stem scores that compare the participant's response to a normal distribution and determine if responses indicate high, average, or low risk for maltreatment of children. Scores of 1 through 4 identify a risk of abusive parenting behaviors, scores of 5 or 6 are considered average, and scores from 7 through 10 indicate nurturing parental attitudes.

Change in Parenting Scale score between baseline and follow-up visitbaseline (pre-intervention) and follow-up (4-10 wks post-intervention)

Assess the efficacy of PriCARE on decreasing harsh parenting as measured by the Parenting Scale. The Parenting Scale is a 30-item self-report questionnaire that was designed to assess dysfunctional parenting discipline strategies. Parents choose their response to various situations using a likert scale. Higher scores indicate ineffective parenting strategies.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

🇺🇸

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

© Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved by MedPath