Parents as Partners: Effectiveness of the Program in a Portuguese Sample of Couples During the Transition to Parenthood
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 招募中
- 入组人数
- 100
- 试验地点
- 2
- 主要终点
- Coparenting Relationship
研究概览
简要总结
This study aims to assess the effectiveness of the "Parents as Partners" program (also named "Supporting Father Involvement"; Cowan et al., 2009) in a sample of Portuguese couples going through the transition to parenthood, i.e., with one child up to the age of 3 years old. The program aims to strengthen the coparenting relationship and consists of 2-hour 8 weekly group sessions attended by couples. Using a mixed-method approach, the researchers will conduct a randomized clinical trial aiming to assess the effectiveness of the intervention on primary and secondary outcomes. Lastly, participants' perceptions of the intervention usefulness will be assessed by conducting interviews with couples who participated in the intervention group (Parents as Partners).
详细描述
This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Porto (Ref. 023/07-17).
The curriculum and assessment approach of "Parents as Partners" is built on a 5-domain risk and protective model: Parents as Individuals- Their health, mental health and general well-being; Parent-Child Relationships- Fathers' and mothers' age-appropriate parenting strategies; Couple Relationship- How parents manage their conflict and disagreement; coparenting that is more collaborative than undermining; Family of Origin Patterns- Parents' developmental histories with their parents; what is carried over from the past; how to interrupt intergenerational cycles of harsh treatment, abuse, and neglect; Stressors and Supports- Parents' strategies for coping with external stressors and enlisting support from family, friends, the workplace, and social services. The sessions will be led by two psychologists (male and female) who underwent 24-hour training by the Brazelton Touchpoints Center. The program has a 10-dimension fidelity assessment model, which will be complemented by session checklists. Furthermore, the facilitators will participate in weekly monitoring sessions with professionals specialized in the program.
Participants will be recruited from nurseries and private clinics.
After enrolling in the program, group facilitators conduct an initial interview to get to know the couple and clarify any questions they may have about the program. At this moment, couples will be asked to sign a consent form. After consenting to their participation, couples will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: intervention group or waitlist-control group. The estimated sample size is 51 couples for the waitlist-control and intervention group each (power of .80; α = .05; G*Power 3.1.9.7). Participants will be assessed before and after the intervention on (co)parental, dyadic and work-family interface dimensions. Parents in the waitlist-control group will receive the intervention once their participation in the study is finished and if positive outcomes are found.
Hypotheses Group effects: The intervention group (IG) is expected to show an increase in coparenting relationship quality, parenting efficacy, and a decrease in parental stress compared to the wait-list control group (CG). Additionally, the investigators expect fathers in the IG to show an increase in parental involvement compared to those in the CG. As for secondary outcomes, the IG is expected to show an increase in the quality of the couple relationship, partner responsiveness and family-work enrichment, and a decrease in family-work conflict compared to the CG. Additionally, the researchers expect an improvement in child's social and emotional development.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Prevention
- 盲法
- Single (Outcomes Assessor)
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 18 Years 至 —（Adult, Older Adult）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 是
入选标准
- •Heterosexual couples
- •Both members of a couple accept to participate
- •Couples should have only one child who should be up to 3 years of age
- •Both members of the couple must have been parents for the first time together, i.e., they cannot have children from previous relationships
- •Should live together.
排除标准
- •Severe mental health problems,
- •Situations of domestic violence,
- •Problematic use of alcohol and/or drugs.
结局指标
主要结局
Coparenting Relationship
时间窗: Change from baseline (pre-test) to follow-up (6 months after the end of the program implementation).
Coparenting Relationship Scale: Scale ranges from 0 (not true about us) to 6 (very much true about us); Measures seven dimensions: Coparenting agreement, closeness, exposure to conflict, coparenting support, undermining, endorsement of partner parenting and division of labor.
Child-Parent Relationship
时间窗: Change from baseline (pre-test) to follow-up (6 months after the end of the program implementation).
Child-Parent Relationship Scale - Short Form: Scale ranges from 1 (definitely does not apply) to 5 (definitively applies); Measures two dimensions: Conflict and Closeness
次要结局
- Parenting Efficacy(Change from baseline (pre-test) to follow-up (6 months after the end of the program implementation).)
- Parental Stress(Change from baseline (pre-test) to follow-up (6 months after the end of the program implementation).)
- Family-Work Conflict(Change from baseline (pre-test) to follow-up (6 months after the end of the program implementation).)
- Quality of the Couple Relationship(Change from baseline (pre-test) to follow-up (6 months after the end of the program implementation).)
- Partner Responsiveness(Change from baseline (pre-test) to follow-up (6 months after the end of the program implementation).)
- Child's Social and Emotional Development(Change from baseline (pre-test) to follow-up (6 months after the end of the program implementation).)
- Family-Work Enrichment(Change from baseline (pre-test) to follow-up (6 months after the end of the program implementation).)