Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
Childhood behaviour problems are an important public health issue because of their prevalence, stability over time, poor prognosis in terms of future physical and mental health problems, crime, drug and alcohol misuse, and cost to society. A childs behaviour is associated with the parenting they receive. Parents differ in how they raise their children and what style of parenting they pursue. There are many influences on parenting styles, including culture, parental mental health, education and a wealth of literature on child-rearing. Some parenting styles appear to be more helpful for the childs development, others less so. The best child outcomes appear to be related to parenting characterised by warmth, affection, caring, clear communication, consistent discipline, having confidence in parenting and not over-controlling the child. Only about a third of parents have adopted the most helpful parenting styles.
One method of developing more helpful parenting practices is through the use of group-based parenting programmes. These may be based on a number of different theoretical principles, and several different types of parenting programme are currently available. The Webster-Stratton Parents and Children Series parenting programme was found to develop skills most closely matching those identified as key for best parenting . This programme aims to reduce child behaviour problems, strengthen the relationship between parents and their children, reduce over-controlling parental behaviours, and develop authoritative parenting skills such as the use of clear commands, setting limits and providing consistent discipline. The methods include handouts, discussion of video clips, small group discussions, role-play, home practice of parenting skills each week, self-management and cognitive self-control.
This study aims to answer the following questions:
1. Does the Webster-Stratton parenting programme, delivered by health visitors in primary care, meet its aim to improve child behaviour problems (effectiveness) and other objectives (to be easy, useful and appropriate)?
2. What are the effects of the programme on the parents in terms of mental health, relationships with their child, parenting competence and confidence, and level of support for their parenting (impact)?
3. Is the benefit from the parenting programme confined to families with children already in the clinical range for behaviour problems, or do other families also benefit (the case for targeted or population interventions)?
Who can participate?
Parents registered at Bury-Knowle GP surgery, with children aged between 2 and 8 years and scoring at or above the median on the Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory questionnaire.
What does the study involve?
Participants were randomly allocated to one of two groups. One group received the Webster-Stratton parenting intervention, a 10-week parent-training programme (one 2-hour session per week) run by a trained health visitor. The other group did not receive the intervention, only the usual health visitor advice available through the GP practice.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Possible benefits include improvements in the childrens behaviour and improvements in maternal anxiety, depression and self-esteem. No risks were identified
Where is the study run from?
Health Services Research Unit, Oxford University (UK).
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
The study ran from July 1999 to 2000.
Who is funding the study?
NHS Executive South East (UK).
Who is the main contact?
Jacoby Patterson
jacoby@ukgateway.net
Trial website
Contact information
Type
Scientific
Primary contact
Dr Jacoby Patterson
ORCID ID
Contact details
Health Services Research Unit
Institute of Health Sciences
Old Road
Headington
Oxford
OX3 7LF
United Kingdom
+44 (0)1865 226933
jacoby@ukgateway.net
Additional identifiers
EudraCT number
ClinicalTrials.gov number
Protocol/serial number
SEO013
Study information
Scientific title
Acronym
Study hypothesis
To investigate the effectiveness of a parent training programme delivered by health visitors in primary care; to quantify levels of behaviour problems among children aged 2-8 yrs in a community sample; quantify changes in behaviour over 12 months; assess the impact of the programme on the mothers' self-esteem, anxiety, depression & perceived stress of parenting
Ethics approval
Added 02/12/2013: Applied and Qualitative Research Ethics Committee (formerly NAPREC), 1999
Study design
Randomised controlled trial
Primary study design
Interventional
Secondary study design
Randomised controlled trial
Trial setting
GP practices
Trial type
Treatment
Patient information sheet
Not available in web format, please use the contact details below to request a patient information sheet
Condition
Mental and behavioural disorders: Behavioural disorders
Intervention
10 week parent-training programme (1 x 2 hr session/week) run by trained health visitor against control group receiving only usual health visitor advice available through GP practice
Intervention type
Other
Phase
Not Applicable
Drug names
Primary outcome measures
Children -Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory, Goodman Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaire; Mothers -Abidin Parenting Stress Index, GHQ, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
Secondary outcome measures
Not provided at time of registration
Overall trial start date
01/06/1999
Overall trial end date
28/02/2002
Reason abandoned
Eligibility
Participant inclusion criteria
60 parents registered at Bury-Knowle GP surgery, with children aged between 2 and 8 years and scoring more than 1 standard deviation away from population normal on Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory
Participant type
Patient
Age group
Child
Gender
Both
Target number of participants
60
Participant exclusion criteria
Children already receiving treatment for behaviour problems, with severe learning difficulties or autism. Parents with learning difficulties
Recruitment start date
01/06/1999
Recruitment end date
28/02/2002
Locations
Countries of recruitment
United Kingdom
Trial participating centre
Health Services Research Unit
Oxford
OX3 7LF
United Kingdom
Sponsor information
Organisation
NHS R&D Regional Programme Register - Department of Health (UK)
Sponsor details
The Department of Health
Richmond House
79 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2NL
United Kingdom
+44 (0)20 7307 2622
dhmail@doh.gsi.org.uk
Sponsor type
Government
Website
Funders
Funder type
Government
Funder name
NHS Executive South East (UK)
Alternative name(s)
Funding Body Type
Funding Body Subtype
Location
Results and Publications
Publication and dissemination plan
Not provided at time of registration
Intention to publish date
Participant level data
Not provided at time of registration
Results - basic reporting
Publication summary
2004 results in: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15155394
Publication citations
-
Results
Stewart-Brown S, Patterson J, Mockford C, Barlow J, Klimes I, Pyper C, Impact of a general practice based group parenting programme: quantitative and qualitative results from a controlled trial at 12 months., Arch. Dis. Child., 2004, 89, 6, 519-525.