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Effects of parenting interventions for at-risk parents with infants: a systematic review and meta-analyses
Signe B Rayce1, Ida S Rasmussen1, Sihu K Klest2
1Department for Child and Family, VIVE - The Danish Centre of Applied Social Science, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Insights
Early parenting interventions significantly improve infant behavior and parent-child relationships for at-risk families. However, effects on cognitive development and long-term behavior changes were not significant in this systematic review.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Public Health
- Family Studies
Background:
- Infancy is a critical developmental period requiring secure caregiver relationships.
- Early parenting interventions support at-risk families to prevent developmental harm.
- Systematic review focuses on interventions for infants aged 0-12 months.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review the effects of parenting interventions on child development.
- To assess impacts on the parent-child relationship in at-risk families.
- To evaluate outcomes for infants aged 0-12 months.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review and meta-analyses of 16 randomized controlled trials.
- Searched 10 databases and grey literature; assessed risk of bias.
- Included structured psychosocial interventions with at least three postnatal sessions.
Main Results:
- Interventions improved child behavior (d=0.14), parent-child relationship (d=0.44), and maternal sensitivity (d=0.46).
- No significant effects observed on cognitive development, internalizing, or externalizing behaviors post-intervention.
- Long-term follow-up showed no significant effect on child behavior.
Conclusions:
- Early parenting interventions benefit behavior and maternal sensitivity in the short term.
- Long-term effects on child development and behavior require further investigation.
- Future research should include long-term follow-up assessments.
Objectives:
Infancy is a critical stage of life, and a secure relationship with caring and responsive caregivers is crucial for healthy infant development. Early parenting interventions aim to support families in which infants are at risk of developmental harm. Our objective is to systematically review the effects of parenting interventions on child development and on parent-child relationship for at-risk families with infants aged 0-12 months.
Design:
This is a systematic review and meta-analyses. We extracted publications from 10 databases in June 2013, January 2015 and June 2016, and supplemented with grey literature and hand search. We assessed risk of bias, calculated effect sizes and conducted meta-analyses.
Inclusion Criteria:
(1) Randomised controlled trials of structured psychosocial interventions offered to at-risk families with infants aged 0-12 months in Western Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, (2) interventions with a minimum of three sessions and at least half of these delivered postnatally and (3) outcomes reported for child development or parent-child relationship.
Results:
Sixteen studies were included. Meta-analyses were conducted on seven outcomes represented in 13 studies. Parenting interventions significantly improved child behaviour (d=0.14; 95% CI 0.03 to 0.26), parent-child relationship (d=0.44; 95% CI 0.09 to 0.80) and maternal sensitivity (d=0.46; 95% CI 0.26 to 0.65) postintervention. There were no significant effects on cognitive development (d=0.13; 95% CI -0.08 to 0.41), internalising behaviour (d=0.16; 95% CI -0.03 to 0.33) or externalising behaviour (d=0.16; 95% CI -0.01 to 0.30) post-intervention. At long-term follow-up we found no significant effect on child behaviour (d=0.15; 95% CI -0.03 to 0.31).
Conclusions:
Interventions offered to at-risk families in the first year of the child's life appear to improve child behaviour, parent-child relationship and maternal sensitivity post-intervention, but not child cognitive development and internalising or externalising behaviour. Future studies should incorporate follow-up assessments to examine long-term effects of early interventions.
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