title: No evidence of whole population mental health impact of the Triple P parenting programme: findings from a routine dataset.
abstract: The Triple P parenting programme has been reported to improve child mental health at population level, but it consumes substantial resources. Previous published work has suggested improvements in whole population scores in the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) Total Difficulties Scale among samples of children following introduction of the programme. This paper aims to explore whether Triple P had an impact on child mental health problems using routinely collected data over 6 years before and during the implementation of the multilevel Triple P programme in Glasgow City.
  
  
  
  Annual monitoring of teacher-rated SDQ Total Difficulties Scale scores among children in their pre-school year in Glasgow City.
  
  
  
  No significant or consistent changes in SDQ Total Difficulties Scale scores were seen during or after the implementation of Triple P programme on a whole population level.
  
  
  
  Triple P in Glasgow City appears to have had no impact on early child mental health problems over a 6 year period. The Triple P programme, implemented on a whole population level, is unlikely to produce measurable benefits in terms of child mental health.
authors.affiliation: The Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy, University of Edinburgh, 20 West Richmond Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9DX, UK. louise.marryat@ed.ac.uk.|Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Caledonia House, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, Glasgow, G3 8SJ, UK. louise.marryat@ed.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marryat
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Caledonia House, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, Glasgow, G3 8SJ, UK.|Centre for Rural Health, University of Aberdeen, Centre for Health Sciences, Old Perth Road, Inverness, IV2 3JH, UK.
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Rural Health, University of Aberdeen, Centre for Health Sciences, Old Perth Road, Inverness, IV2 3JH, UK.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D004505:Education, Nonprofessional / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016487:Parenting; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011634:Public Health; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Behavioural family intervention; Child psychology; Observational study; Parenting; Public health