EFFECTIVENESS OF A CHILD-CARE TRAINING-PROGRAM FOR PARENTS AT-RISK FOR CHILD NEGLECT

Although child neglect can have serious negative repercussions on the child, few studies have examined interventions designed to mitigate maltreatment through parental skill remediation. We evaluated home-based parent training consisting of instructions, picture books, modelling, feedback, and tangible reinforcement to teach crucial child-care skills (e.g., diapering, bathing, feeding, safety) to 22 low IQ mothers considered at-risk for child neglect. Initially, the mean correct performance (64%) of the low IQ mothers was significantly lower than the mean (85%) of a comparison group of 12 nonhandicapped mothers with similar-aged children. The low IQ mothers were then randomly assigned to a training or a control group. Posttests, given a mean of 14 weeks after the pretests, showed that the mean percent correct score (88%) of the training group was then similar to that of the nonhandicapped comparison mothers, with both significantly greater than the mean (61%) of the control group. The training group maintained improvements up to 76 weeks following training, and the control group, when subsequently trained, had a mean score of 92%. Finally, where it could be observed, the health of the children improved concomitant with the parents learning proper child-care (e.g., elimination of diaper rash, increased rate of weight gain, toilet training). The results indicate that parent training in child-care may help reduce the likelihood of child neglect due to parental incompetency.