Parenting, Child Maltreatment, and Social Disadvantage: A Population-Based Implementation and Evaluation of the Triple P System of Evidence-Based Parenting Support

• Published in: Child maltreatment 2025-02, Vol.30 (1), p.177-191
• Main Authors: Sanders, Matthew R., Clague, Denise, Zając, Tomasz, Baxter, Janeen, Western, Mark, Chainey, Carys, Morawska, Alina, Tomaszewski, Wojtek, Prinz, Ronald J., Burke, Kylie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abused children; Adult; Career Pathways; Child; Child Abuse; Child abuse & neglect; Child Abuse - prevention & control; Child Rearing; Child, Preschool; Children; Clinical outcomes; Community; Disadvantaged; Educational Cooperation; Evidence Based Practice; Evidence-based medicine; Families & family life; Female; Health problems; Health status; Humans; Intervention; Male; New South Wales; Parenting - psychology; Parenting Skills; Parents; Parents & parenting; Program Evaluation; Public health; Quasi-experimental methods; Quasiexperimental Design; Queensland; Research design; Social Support; Vulnerable Populations - psychology
• ISSN: 1077-5595; 1552-6119; 1552-6119
• DOI: 10.1177/10775595241259994

Child Maltreatment (CM) is a widespread public health problem, with adverse outcomes for children, families, and communities. Evidence-based parenting support delivered via a public health approach may be an effective means to prevent CM. The Every Family 2 population trial applied a public health approach to delivering evidence-based parenting support to prevent CM in disadvantaged communities. Using a quasi-experimental design, 64 matched low socioeconomic communities in the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales received either the full multi-level Triple P system (TPS) of parenting support, or Care as Usual (CAU). Two population indicators of CM, the number of substantiated cases of CM, and the number of notifications of CM to protective services were compared using Welch’s t-test to evaluate intervention effectiveness. After two years of intervention, medium to large effect sizes favoring TPS communities were found for substantiations (d = 0.57, p < .05) and notifications (d = 1.86, p < .001). These findings show the value of the TPS, deployed using a public health approach, in efforts to prevent CM in socially disadvantaged communities. A number of uncontrolled contextual factors are described that may have contributed to some of the differences detected between TPS and CAU communities.