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Effectiveness of the International Child Development Programme: Results from a randomized controlled trial |
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| Authors: | Idunn Brekke Otto R. F. Smith Eia Elena Skjønsberg Tonje Holt Maren Sand Helland Leif Edvard Aarø Espen Røysamb Gun-Mette Røsand Leila Torgersen Ane-Marthe Solheim Skar Heidi Aase |
| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Child Health and Development, Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway;2. Centre for Evaluation of Public Health Measures, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway Department of Health Promotion, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway;3. Department of Health Promotion, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway;4. Department of Child Health and Development, Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway Promenta Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;5. Regional Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Oslo, Norway;6. The Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS), Oslo, Norway Global Health Cluster, Division for Health Services, Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) |
| Abstract: | This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the International Child Development Programme (ICDP), a group-based parenting programme used internationally and implemented nationally in Norway. We used a cluster randomized controlled trial in which 81 groups were randomly assigned to either the intervention or waitlist control condition after the baseline data collection. A total of 590 parents completed at least one of three questionnaires (administrated before and after ICDP and 4 months after completing the intervention). Primary outcomes included parental self-efficacy, parental emotion sensitivity and positive involvement with their child. Secondary outcomes included parents' perceptions of their relationship with the child, child-rearing conflicts and the child's psychosocial health. We found significant effects favouring the intervention arm following the intervention and at follow-up on two primary outcomes (parental self-efficacy and emotion sensitivity). For the secondary outcomes, we found a significant reduction in child-rearing conflict at the 4-month follow-up, increased closeness to the child, reduced child internalizing difficulties and increased prosocial behaviour immediately following the intervention. However, ICDP seems to have limited effects on parent-reported changes in children. We conclude that ICDP as a universal preventive programme offered to parents in groups can be effective in strengthening parental self-efficacy and improving parental emotion sensitivity. |
| Keywords: | child development community intervention group intervention parent–child relationship parenting programme RCT |