Investigating the Impact of A Veteran-Focused Parenting Program on Parenting Stress, Competence and Parenting Practices

NCT03722043 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: TU1726
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 13
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Veterans or spouses of veterans with a minor child will participate in a five-week parenting program. The goals of the parenting program are to assist in improving parent's sense of competence, improving parent's emotional regulation abilities, and lower parental stress by incorporating mindfulness and values-based parenting principles. The program will utilize evidence-based practices that will be delivered in a manner that incorporates aspects of military culture (i.e., language and concepts are tailored to that used within military culture). Mindfulness and acceptance and commitment therapy have been shown to be effective in treating service members \[1\], and this will be the first study that examines how learning these principles do or do not impact parenting stress, competence, and practices. The parenting program is free, and is offered by the investigators as a community service. Participation in the parenting program does not obligate enrollment in the research study.

Conditions

Parenting; Military Family

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in Parenting Sense of Competence after 6 weeks, using the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC; Johnston & Marsh, 1989)

  The PSOC consists of 16 items about parents' confidence on being a parent, answered on a six-point scale ranging from ''strongly disagree'' to ''strongly agree''. Scoring for some items is reversed so that, for all items, higher scores indicate greater parenting self-esteem. Two subscales measure efficacy (seven items) and satisfaction (nine items) in parenting.

  Pre-treatment, post-treatment (i.e., approximately 6 weeks after the start of the parenting program).

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Change in Parenting Stress after 6 weeks, using the Parenting Stress Scale (PSS; Berry & Jones, 1995)

  Pre-treatment, post-treatment (i.e., approximately 6 weeks after the start of the parenting program)

• Change in Parent's Emotion Regulation Abilities after 6 weeks, using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scales (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004)

  Pre-treatment, post-treatment (i.e., approximately 6 weeks after the start of the parenting program)

• Change in Parenting Practices after 6 weeks, using the Parenting Practices Interview (PPI; Webster-Stratton, Reid, & Hammond, 2001)

  Pre-treatment, post-treatment (i.e., approximately 6 weeks after the start of the parenting program)

• Change in Parenting Styles after 6 weeks, using the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire-Short Form (APQ-9; Elgar, Waschbusch, Dadds, & Sigvaldason, 2007)

  Pre-treatment, post-treatment (i.e., approximately 6 weeks after the start of the parenting program)

Study Arms (1)

Parenting Program

EXPERIMENTAL

All study participants will receive our parenting program curriculum. There will not be a control group. The parenting program will include the topics of mindful parenting strategies, emotional regulation, positive discipline, and positive parenting/attachment. Participants will be provided skills to develop strategies for each of the modules. Each session will contain elements of group troubleshooting and practice in-session. Practice at home will be assigned so that participants can continue to practice and implement these skills and strategies in their homes. The program is taken from a published, empirically based program called "Everyday Parenting: A Professional's Guide to Building Family Management Skills" written by Thomas Dishion, Elizabeth Stormshak, and Kathryn Kavanagh.

Behavioral: Parenting Program

Interventions

Parenting Program BEHAVIORAL

Parents will participate in a 5-week parenting program designed to uniquely work with veteran families. The program will target the following areas: mindful parenting strategies, emotional regulation, positive discipline, positive parenting/attachment, and sleep.

Parenting Program

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Must be a parent of a minor
• Must be fluent in English
• Must be a veteran or have a spouse who is a veteran

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Tulsa: lead

Study Sites (1)

Coffee Bunker

Tulsa, Oklahoma, 74135, United States

Location

Related Publications (11)

• Vujanovic, A. A., Niles, B., Pietrefesa, A., Schmertz, S. K., & Potter, C. M. (2013). Mindfulness in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder among military veterans. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 42, 24-31.

  BACKGROUND

• United States Census Bureau. (2015). Veteran Statistics-Oklahoma. Retrieved from https://www2.census.gov/library/infographics/2015/comm/vets/ok-vets.pdf.

  BACKGROUND

• Lester P, Peterson K, Reeves J, Knauss L, Glover D, Mogil C, Duan N, Saltzman W, Pynoos R, Wilt K, Beardslee W. The long war and parental combat deployment: effects on military children and at-home spouses. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2010 Apr;49(4):310-20.

  PMID: 20410724 BACKGROUND

• Louie, A. D., & Cromer, L. D. (2014). Parent-child attachment during the deployment cycle: Impact on reintegration parenting stress. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 45(6), 496.

  BACKGROUND

• Lester, P., & Bursch, B. (2011). The long war comes home: Mitigating risk and promoting resilience in military children and families. Psychiatric Time, 28(7), 26-29.

  BACKGROUND

• Veltman, M. W., & Browne, K. D. (2001). Three decades of child maltreatment research implications for the school years. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 2(3), 215-239.

  BACKGROUND

• Johnston, C., & Mash, E. J. (1989). A measure of parenting satisfaction and efficacy. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 18(2), 167-175.

  RESULT

• Berry, J. O., & Jones, W. H. (1995). The parental stress scale: Initial psychometric evidence. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 12, 463-472.

  RESULT

• Gratz, K. L., & Roemer, L. (2004). Multidimensional assessment of emotion regulation and dysregulation: Development, factor structure, and initial validation of the difficulties in emotion regulation scale. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 26, 41-54.

  RESULT

• Webster-Stratton C, Reid MJ, Hammond M. Preventing conduct problems, promoting social competence: a parent and teacher training partnership in head start. J Clin Child Psychol. 2001 Sep;30(3):283-302. doi: 10.1207/S15374424JCCP3003_2.

  PMID: 11501247 RESULT

• Elgar, F. J., Waschbusch, D. A., Dadds, M. R., & Sigvaldason, N. (2007). Development and validation of a short form of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 16(2), 243-259.

  RESULT

Study Officials

• Lisa Cromer, PhD

  University of Tulsa

  STUDY CHAIR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 18, 2017
• First Posted: October 26, 2018
• Study Start: January 8, 2017
• Primary Completion: October 25, 2018
• Study Completion: October 25, 2018
• Last Updated: October 26, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-10

Locations

US (1)