Enhancing parental competencies for high risk mothers: an evaluation of prevention effects

A three-year study examined the effects of two prevention programs for sole-support mothers with preschool-aged children. A life-skills, esteem-building group program was compared with a group program teaching life skills combined with parent training. A non-randomized, repeated-measures design was employed with measures occurring before, after, and one year after each program for participants in the two intervention groups and for a group of matched comparison subjects. The lack of competency enhancement effects appeared to be a function of reduced exposure of subjects to the interventions. In addition, there was no support for the connection between short-term competency enhancement and long-term prevention of disorder. The negative results serve, in this report, as a cautionary tale highlighting the difficulties in conducting evaluations of primary prevention. It would appear that program planners are placed in a Catch-22 situation by trying to justify the effectiveness of primary prevention through short-term, low-intensity approaches.