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The Incredible Years Parents and Babies Program: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
Maiken Pontoppidan1,2, Sihu K Klest3, Tróndur Møller Sandoy1
1SFI-The Danish National Centre for Social Research, Department for Child and Family, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Plos One
|December 16, 2016
Summary
The Incredible Years Parents and Babies (IYPB) program showed no overall benefits as a universal intervention for infant parents. However, it reduced stress for high-functioning mothers but increased it for low-functioning mothers.
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- Parenting Interventions
- Mental Health
Background:
- Early childhood experiences significantly impact lifelong mental health.
- Adverse infant experiences can lead to immediate and long-term issues.
- The Incredible Years Parents and Babies (IYPB) program was evaluated as a universal intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the effectiveness of the IYPB program when offered universally to parents of newborns.
- To determine the program's impact on parenting confidence and stress levels.
- To explore secondary outcomes including parent health and parent-child relationship dynamics.
Main Methods:
- A pragmatic, two-arm, parallel pilot randomized controlled trial was conducted.
- 112 families with newborns were randomized to the IYPB program (76) or usual care (36).
- Primary outcomes included parenting confidence and stress at 20 weeks, with secondary outcomes on parent and infant well-being.
Main Results:
- No significant intervention effects were observed for primary outcomes (parenting confidence, stress).
- Intervention mothers reported a smaller social network compared to controls.
- Lowest-functioning mothers experienced increased stress and lower confidence; highest-functioning mothers reported reduced stress.
Conclusions:
- The IYPB program, as a universal intervention, did not demonstrate overall effectiveness for parents with infants.
- The program may require adaptation for universal groups, as it was designed for low-functioning families.
- Future research should consider targeted delivery of IYPB to groups with similar parenting and mental health profiles.
