Abstract
Background
Home-based parenting support within youth care services is one of the key interventions provided to families encountering difficulties with child rearing and child development. However, knowledge on factors contributing to positive outcomes of home-based parenting support is limited.
Objective
The current study investigated the predictive value of (1) early parent-professional alliance and (2) change in alliance during care for outcomes of home-based parenting support.
Method
Multi-informant self-report alliance and outcome data from 146 parents (Mage = 40.00, SD = 7.10; range 19–57 years) and their professionals collected early and late in care were analyzed using latent growth curve modeling.
Results
Findings demonstrated that higher levels of early parent-reported alliance predicted higher levels of parent-reported satisfaction with care, and improved parent functioning. Higher levels of early professional-reported alliance predicted higher levels of parent- and professional-reported satisfaction, and improved parent functioning. Increases in professional-reported alliance during care predicted higher levels of professional-reported satisfaction and parent functioning but were not related to parent-reported outcomes. Change in parent-reported alliance was not related to outcomes.
Conclusions
Together, our findings suggest that a strong parent-professional alliance represents a key process factor in realizing positive outcomes of home-based parenting support. Consequently, efforts in research and practice are needed to investigate precursors of strong alliances and to optimize professionals’ ability to develop and maintain strong parent-professional alliances.
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Acknowledgements
We thank all participating parents, professionals and youth care organizations for their contribution, as well as those who have assisted in data collection and data entry. This research was supported by a grant from ZonMw, the Dutch organization for health research and development (Grant Number 729101013), participating youth care organizations, province of Noord-Brabant, and by HAN University of Applied Sciences.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual parents included in the study. Directors of participating organizations provided active consent for their organization to participate in the study and organized active participation of professionals providing home-based parenting support.
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de Greef, M., McLeod, B.D., Scholte, R.H.J. et al. Predictive Value of Parent-Professional Alliance for Outcomes of Home-Based Parenting Support. Child Youth Care Forum 47, 881–895 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-018-9467-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-018-9467-9