Preventing Conduct Disorder Among Children in the Child Welfare System is a randomized control trial (RCT) that is being conducted at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis in collaboration with Center for Mental Health Services Research and the Center for Violence and Injury Prevention. This study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an empirically supported parent-mediated intervention called Pathways Triple P with children and parents in Missouri’s child welfare system. Pathways Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) is designed to treat and prevent disruptive child behavior problems and it particularly well suited for implementation in child welfare settings. It was developed for parents at high risk of maltreating their children and contains components to address factors that often complicate parent training with high risk parents (Sanders, M.R., Markie-Dadds, C., & Turner, K.M.T. (2003). Yet Pathways Triple P, one program within the Triple P system of parent management training, has yet to be tested with a U.S. population and has yet to be examined for its ability to prevent maltreatment recidivism. The purpose of this study is to conduct a RCT to determine: 1) if Pathways Triple P results in better behavioral and safety outcomes than treatment as usual (TAU) for African American and Caucasian children in the child welfare system and 2) to determine how the cost effectiveness of Pathways Triple P compares to TAU.
This study has three specific aims:
1. To conduct a longitudinal, RCT with 160 parents in the metro St. Louis child welfare system (whose children are in their care at the time of study entry) to test the effects of Pathways Triple P on child disruptive behavior among children between the ages of 5 and 11 years. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive home delivered Pathways Triple P (experimental condition, n = 80) or TAU (control condition; n=80).
2. To test the effects of Pathways Triple P on maltreatment recidivism.
3. Measure and evaluate the costs and benefits associated with Pathways Triple P and TAU.
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