title: Evaluation of a peer led parenting intervention for disruptive behaviour problems in children: community based randomised controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effectiveness of a peer led parenting intervention delivered to socially disadvantaged families.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomised controlled trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  Schools and children's centres in a socially deprived borough of inner London.
  
  
  METHODS
  Parental caregivers seeking help with managing the problem behaviours of 116 index children, aged 2-11 years; 59 families were randomised to the intervention and 57 to a waitlist control condition.
  
  
  METHODS
  Empowering parents, empowering communities is an eight week (two hours each week), manualised programme delivered to groups of parents by trained peer facilitators from the local community.
  
  
  METHODS
  Child problems (number and severity), parental stress, and parenting competencies were assessed before and after the intervention using standardised parent reported measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significantly greater improvements in positive parenting practices and child problems were observed in the intervention group compared with the waitlist group, with no difference in parental stress between the groups. An intention to treat analysis for the primary outcome measure, the intensity subscale of the Eyberg child behaviour inventory, showed an intervention effect size of 0.38 (95% confidence interval 0.01 to 0.75, P=0.01). The intervention group had high rates of treatment retention (91.5%) and user satisfaction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The peer led parenting intervention significantly reduced child behaviour problems and improved parenting competencies. This is a promising method for providing effective and acceptable parenting support to families considered hard to reach by mainstream services.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN01962337.
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Research Unit, Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London SE5 8AF, UK.
authors.forename: Crispin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Day
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Michelson
authors.forename: Stacey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Penney
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Draper
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D032763:Behavior Control / Q000379:methods; D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D002675:Child, Preschool; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research; D004493:Education / Q000379:methods*; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology; D012681:Sensitivity Training Groups / Q000458:organization & administration; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012932:Social Facilitation; D016896:Treatment Outcome