Pathfinders Early Intervention Project (PEIP) Results from the Incredible Years Parenting Programme

Prof. Judy Hutchings, Dr Tracey Bywater, Margiad Elen Williams B.Sc., Margaret Kate Shakespeare M.Sc., Chris Whitaker M.Sc, C. Stat

Background: Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) funded Pathfinders Early Intervention Project (PEIP), run in 18 local Authorities throughout England.

Where:• IY Parenting Programme was run in 6 Authorities, London Borough of Southwark, Leeds, Derbyshire, Poole, Manchester, Telford and Wrekin.

Intervention:• Extended 17-18 session BASIC plus add on ADVANCED Incredible Years Parenting Programme, targeted for caregivers of children aged 8-13 years

Children: • Age ranges from 8 to 16 years, mean age 10.5 years (SD 1.63). • 67% (n=199) male.• 64% (n=176) eligible for free school meals, • Mean children per house 2.60 (SD 1.45)• Over 40% of households had ≥3 children• N=70 (24%) caregivers living alone

Caregivers:• Sample of 300 caregivers with a child aged 8+• N=300 (100%) caregivers were female • N=276 caregivers (92%) completed some baseline measures• Mean age of 37.32 (SD17.90), mean age at birth of first child was 21.78 (SD 5.47)• 57% families on poverty level (£64 per week per person or less)• N=172 (57%) completed some follow-up measures

Table 1. Baseline responses on standardised measures for children aged 8 – 16 where pre- and post-intervention measures were available

All baseline mean scores exceeded the cut off for clinical concern

Mediators

• A Mediator analysis was run to establish whether parenting behaviour at follow-up contributed to the improvements in child behaviour as reported on the ECBI

• A significant partial mediation was found (z=-3.00, p=.003), therefore parenting behaviour at follow-up was shown to have contributed to the improved child behaviour outcomes.

Moderators

• Moderator analysis looked at whether any of the risk factors had an impact on child outcome as measured by the ECBI. Six risk factors were analysed; Teenage age parent at birth of first child, Single parent, Family history of drug use, Family history of crime, Parental Depression, Poverty i.e. low income ≤£64 per person per week.

• Of these risk factors, only family history of drugs and crime had a moderating influence on the ECBI in terms of predicting poorer outcomes.

Outcome Measures: Baseline and Follow-up• Adapted Personal Development and Health Questionnaire (PDHQ)• Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory (ECBI)• Parent and Teacher Strengths and DifficultiesQuestionnaire (SDQ)• Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)• Arnold O’Leary Parenting Scale

Results 8-16:• n=121 (40%) of caregivers that completed baseline and follow-up data for all parent measures• Significant improvements (p=<.001) were found across all measures (ECBI, SDQ, BDI, Parenting Scale).•Children’s behaviour improved significantly, including regularity and intensity of problem behaviours as seen on ECBI (p=.001). • Caregivers showed improved parenting competencies towards problem behaviours (p=.001), and significantly reduced depressive symptoms (p=.001).

Conclusions: • This is the first study looking at the outcomes for children aged 8+• The children aged from 8 to 16 years benefited from their caregivers receiving the extended IY Parenting Programme.• Caregivers learned parenting strategies that were effective in tackling problem behaviours.• Child behaviour problems were significantly reduced.• Change in parenting behaviour was a significant contributor to child behaviour outcomes.• The lack of moderating effect for most of the established risk factors shows that the programme is equally successful for children living with many of the risk factors for longer term poorer outcomes.• Extended IY programme is both acceptable to and effective for parents of high risk 8-16 year olds.

Figure 1. Mean baseline and follow-up

ECBI scores n=121, ITT n=288

Figure 2. Mean baseline and follow-up

Parent SDQ scores n=121, ITT n=275

Figure 3. Mean baseline and follow-up

BDI scores n=121, ITT n=274Figure 4. Mean baseline and follow-up

Arnold-O’Leary Parenting Scale scores

n=121, ITT n=269

Correspondence to Prof. Judy Hutchings j.hutchings@bangor.ac.uk, Analysis and poster design by Kate Shakespeare & Margiad Williams

Intention to Treat (ITT) analysis for the 8-16 year olds:

• A more conservative analysis of outcomes in which all missing follow-up data was replaced by baseline scores (ITT) also demonstrated significant changes in ECBI (p=.001), SDQ (p=.001) BDI (p=.001), and Arnold Parenting Scale (p=.001).