The proposed research is designed to develop and refine (Phase I), and to evaluate in a controlled design (Phase II), a time-limited, theoretically and empirically based secondary prevention program whose purpose is to reduce risk factors associated with the ubiquitous problem of child physical abuse. More specifically, the goal is to develop and evaluate an intervention protocol (Survival Information for Parents, SIP) that systematically addresses selected social information processing and behavioral difficulties experienced by high-risk parents. Phase I will involve intervention development and refinement, which will include feedback (e.g., on program language, examples, cultural and ethnic issues) from stakeholders (practitioners and consumers). Phase I will also include a preliminary evaluation of the SIP intervention, which will consist of an intervention """"""""step through"""""""" activity designed to provide feedback on the manualized intervention. In Phase II, using a four (randomized) group Solomon design, the SIP program will be evaluated using multiple types of pre-, post, and follow-assessments that include evaluations of cognitive and behavioral outcomes (including central registry reports of child maltreatment).
Given recent concerns about the effectiveness of existing secondary prevention programs, there is a need for new effective prevention programs for child abuse. The SIP program is seen as a supplement to existing parent education and home visitation programs. The premise is that high-risk parents need additional services related to information processing problems before the information provided by existing parent education and have visitation programs can be used effectively by the high-risk parents. Since many agencies (private and public) could use a manualized, supplemental prevention program, the commercial demand for the proposed SIP program - if shown to be effective - would be substantial. Field interest in secondary programs is driven in part by the fact that in the most recent year that data are available, almost one million children were confirmed for child maltreatment (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999), with 24.6% being child physical abuse cases, which indicates a substantial need for effective prevention efforts.
