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Disseminating a Parenting Intervention in the Community: Experiences from a Multi-Site Evaluation

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Abstract

Circle of Security-Parenting (COS-P) is a widely used parenting intervention that is gaining popularity globally as it is currently being delivered across several continents. Despite the global uptake of COS-P, there is limited research on its effectiveness with considerable variability in its delivery. Here we present a multi-site evaluation of the group delivery of COS-P to under-resourced mothers (n = 131 enrolled) in an urban community as facilitated by community-based providers (n = 12) from community sites (n = 6) that provide maternal and child services. The feasibility and acceptability of delivering COS-P in the community are highlighted as well as characteristics of sites and providers as they relate to implementation efforts, and pre and post-intervention data examining COS-P and maternal caregiving functioning (i.e., depressive symptoms, reflective functioning) are also included. Several service delivery barriers were encountered at agency, provider and participant levels that created obstacles for program dissemination, participant retention and evaluation. Nonetheless, COS-P was successfully delivered in the community when sites embedded the program within their existing infrastructure and had the internal capacity for delivery, participant recruitment, supervision, and community presence. Mothers who participated in COS-P also reported fewer depressive symptoms following the intervention (n = 25). This multi-site implementation and evaluation study has important implications for the delivery of parenting services to under-resourced communities globally. Implications for future research and service delivery are discussed.

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Funding

This research was funded by United Way of Greater New Haven.

Author Contributions

A.M.: designed, executed study, completed data analyses, and wrote paper. E.S.: collaborated with design and execution of study, supported data analyses, edited the paper. S.N.: coordinated the SSN, collaborated with design and execution of the study, edited the paper. J.H.: coordinated the SSN, collaborated with design and execution of the study, edited the paper. M.S.: designed the study, collaborated with the execution of study, collaborated with writing and editing of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Angela N. Maupin, Emily E. Samuel & Megan V. Smith

  2. United Way of Greater New Haven, New Haven, CT, USA

    Susan M. Nappi & Jennifer M. Heath

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Megan V. Smith

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  1. Angela N. Maupin
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  2. Emily E. Samuel
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  3. Susan M. Nappi
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Correspondence to Angela N. Maupin.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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All procedures conducted in the current study were approved by the Institute’s School of Medicine Human Investigations Committee.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study and consent forms were approved by the Human Investigations Committee. This research does not contain any studies with animals performed by the authors.

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Maupin, A.N., Samuel, E.E., Nappi, S.M. et al. Disseminating a Parenting Intervention in the Community: Experiences from a Multi-Site Evaluation. J Child Fam Stud 26, 3079–3092 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0804-7

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