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Family connections: a program for preventing child neglect

Diane DePanfilis1, Howard Dubowitz

  • 1University of Maryland School of Social Work, Baltimore, MD 21228, USA. ddepanfi@ssw.umaryland.edu

Child Maltreatment
|March 31, 2005
PubMed

Insights

The Family Connections program successfully reduced child neglect risk factors and improved child safety and behavior. Longer intervention periods did not show added benefits for parenting skills.

Area of Science:

  • Child development
  • Family studies
  • Social work

Background:

  • Child neglect is a significant public health issue.
  • Early intervention programs are crucial for preventing child maltreatment.
  • Identifying at-risk families and providing targeted support is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the effectiveness of the Family Connections program in preventing child neglect.
  • To compare the outcomes of 3-month and 9-month intervention durations.
  • To assess changes in protective factors, risk factors, child safety, and child behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Demonstration program with 154 families (473 children) in a low-income urban setting.
  • Random assignment to either a 3-month or 9-month intervention.
  • Analysis of self-report and observational data using repeated measures ANOVA.

Main Results:

  • Significant improvements in protective factors (parenting attitudes, competence, social support).
  • Significant reductions in risk factors (parental depression, parenting stress, life stress).
  • Enhanced child safety and improved child behavior (reduced externalizing and internalizing behaviors).
  • No significant advantage of the 9-month intervention over the 3-month intervention for parenting adequacy.

Conclusions:

  • The Family Connections program is effective in mitigating child neglect risk factors and improving child outcomes.
  • Shorter intervention durations may be as effective as longer ones for enhancing parenting adequacy.
  • Further research is warranted to test the intervention with diverse populations.

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