Job Ann-Katrin, Ehrenberg Daniela, Hilpert Peter, Reindl Vanessa, Lohaus Arnold, Konrad Kerstin, Heinrichs Nina
University of Braunschweig, Germany.
University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
J Interpers Violence. 2022 Jan;37(1-2):322-348. doi: 10.1177/0886260520909196. Epub 2020 Mar 13.
Young children with a history of maltreatment or neglect in foster families often confront their caregivers with particularly challenging behaviors. This may lead to more parenting stress, an increased risk for the child in foster care to experience further maltreatment, and placement disruptions. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to investigate the efficacy of a parent group training tailored to the special needs of foster families. We hypothesized significant short- and long-term improvements regarding foster parents' parenting competencies, child mental health problems, and related outcomes. Eighty-one families with 87 children in foster care aged 2 to 7 years participated in the trial. For the intervention study, 44 randomly selected families (54%) were offered to participate in the parent group training. Intervention and control group families were reassessed three times over a period of 1 year. Contrary to our expectations, we found no advantages of the intervention group compared with the usual care control group on any outcome measure. Instead, we found some significant changes in both groups across time. Placement into foster care is associated with some favorable outcomes for children in foster care. Additional support for foster families beyond the services delivered in the youth welfare system to foster parents was not associated with more favorable outcomes. The present intervention is likely associated with a low risk of harm but also with a high likelihood of a lack of significant benefits for foster parents and their young children going beyond feeling satisfied about the delivered services. Participating foster families showed favorable baseline results on parenting measures which may have impeded intervention effects to unfold on these proximal variables.
在寄养家庭中有受虐待或被忽视经历的幼儿，其行为往往会给照顾者带来特别大的挑战。这可能会导致更多的育儿压力，增加寄养儿童遭受进一步虐待的风险，以及安置中断。我们进行了一项随机对照试验，以研究针对寄养家庭特殊需求量身定制的家长小组培训的效果。我们假设在寄养父母的育儿能力、儿童心理健康问题及相关结果方面会有显著的短期和长期改善。81个家庭中87名年龄在2至7岁的寄养儿童参与了该试验。在干预研究中，44个随机挑选的家庭（54%）被邀请参加家长小组培训。干预组和对照组家庭在1年的时间里接受了三次重新评估。与我们的预期相反，我们发现在任何结果指标上，干预组与常规护理对照组相比都没有优势。相反，我们发现两组随时间都有一些显著变化。进入寄养照顾对寄养儿童有一些有利的结果。除了青少年福利系统向寄养父母提供的服务之外，为寄养家庭提供的额外支持与更有利的结果无关。目前的干预可能危害风险较低，但也很可能对寄养父母及其幼儿没有显著益处，只是让他们对所提供的服务感到满意而已。参与试验的寄养家庭在育儿措施方面基线结果良好，这可能阻碍了干预效果在这些近端变量上的显现。
