Unpacking Parenting Intervention Content for Child Maltreatment: A Systematic Review Examining Core Components

Area of Science:

• Child Development and Psychology
• Public Health Interventions
• Social Work Research

Background:

• Parental child maltreatment (CM) poses significant risks to child well-being.
• Understanding effective intervention components is crucial for prevention and treatment.
• Existing reviews lack a synthesis of intervention components across different maltreatment types.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and synthesize evidence on effective components and delivery techniques in parental CM interventions.
• To identify differences in intervention components based on specific types of child maltreatment.
• To inform the development and tailoring of future parental CM interventions.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of quantitative intervention evaluations with explicit parental CM outcomes.
• Inclusion of 60 peer-reviewed studies with no exclusions based on quality appraisal.
• Narrative synthesis using the Risk and Resilience Ecological framework and behavior change techniques taxonomy.

Main Results:

• Effective interventions frequently incorporated parental emotional regulation, managing child misbehavior, and home visiting.
• "Social support" and "instruction on how to perform a behavior" were common behavior change techniques.
• Physical abuse interventions featured more specific components (e.g., cognitive appraisal) than neglect.

Conclusions:

• Parental CM interventions can be enhanced by incorporating identified effective components and delivery techniques.
• Tailoring interventions to specific maltreatment types, particularly physical abuse, is supported by evidence.
• Future research should explore cultural perspectives and interventions for fathers, who are under-represented.