None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The transition to parenthood is a very exciting time for new parents, but it also is a time of great demands and challenges. After the baby is born, parents are faced with sleep deprivation, mastering infant caregiving tasks, changes in their relationships and lifestyle. At the same time, these early months are crucial for the infant's development and wellbeing. The proposed project aims to evaluate Baby Triple P, a preventative intervention designed to support parents during the transition to firsttime parenthood. It aims to give babies a healthy start in life by enhancing their parent’s knowledge, skills and confidence in early parenting practices. In addition, it intends to protect the mental and emotional wellbeing of parents. The transition to parenthood can be particularly challenging for families where a range of risk factors are present, and it is couples who are at risk for experiencing difficulties at the transition that may benefit most from a preventative intervention. Specifically, this project focuses on couples who experience at least two of the following risk factors: unplanned pregnancy, low education, experience financial strain, low relationship satisfaction, low social support, history of and/or current depression or anxiety, low confidence in ability to parent or low life satisfaction. This was done as these couples may benefit the most from Baby Triple P. Participants will be approximately 150 couples where the mother is 20-35 weeks pregnant. Recruitment will be done through primary care settings, GPs, hospitals in the Brisbane and Ipswich area and targeted mailout and media campaigns. The research will be carried out as a randomised controlled trial comparing the Baby Triple P group to a care as usual group. The study is a 2 (Baby Triple P vs care as usual) x 3 (timepoints: pretest, posttest, 6month follow up) design. The intervention consists of four weekly 2hour group sessions during pregnancy, and four weekly 20 minute telephone consultations starting when the baby is about 6 weeks old. Assessment will include a series of selfreport questionnaires (pre, post, and followup) and a home observation, which will observe mothers as they normally interact with the baby (post and followup). The primary outcome variable for this study is parental confidence/ self-efficacy. Accordingly, it is hypothesised that compared to the care as usual group: H1: Participation in Baby Triple P will lead higher levels of parenting confidence and perceived competence. This study will also look at several secondary outcome variables. For these,it is hypothesised that, compared with the care as usual control group, participation in Baby Triple P will lead to: H2: higher levels of parental responsiveness and bonding to the baby., H3: higher relationship happiness, H4: higher levels of life satisfaction H5: fewer instances of depression or anxiety H6: Infants will show less fussing, crying and fewer sleeping p
Interventions
Baby Triple P: This is a preventative intervention for first time parents. It involves four weekly 2-hour group sessions during the antenatal period which cover parenting topics, the couple relationship and individual adjustment of the parents. There are also four weekly 20-minute telephone consultations in the postnatal period starting when the baby is 6 weeks old which reinforce the strategies learned during the group sessions. Telephone consultations will be conducted primarily with the mothe
Baby Triple P: This is a preventative intervention for first time parents. It involves four weekly 2-hour group sessions during the antenatal period which cover parenting topics, the couple relationship and individual adjustment of the parents. There are also four weekly 20-minute telephone consultations in the postnatal period starting when the baby is 6 weeks old which reinforce the strategies learned during the group sessions. Telephone consultations will be conducted primarily with the mother, however it would be encouraged if the father is present as well. The intervention group will further receive a workbook at the start of the program (at the first session during pregnancy) which will be used throughout the program and can be used at home. Parenting topics to be covered are: teaching couples parenting strategies (Sessions 1 & 2), individual coping skills (Session 3) and partner support skills (Session 4). The parenting strategies are designed to promote a warm and responsive relationship between parents and their babies as well as promoting a positive learning environment for the infant. The 4 telephone consultations will not cover any new material, rather it provides the opportunity to problem solve and it employs a self-regulatory model. Adherence to the intervention will be monitored by marking attendance of both parents at the sessions.
Sponsors
Mandy Mihelic
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
0 to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Interested couples have to meet the following inclusion criteria: (a) experiencing a first pregnancy (between 20 and 35 weeks gestation), (b) absence of an intellectual disability or severe psychopathology which would impair participant’s understanding of the material presented in the program, (c) basic level of literacy, (d) absence of a diagnosed genetic disorder or disability in the baby. Couples will also have to meet at least 2 of the following risk factors: a) unplanned pregnancy b) low education c) low income or experience financial strain d) low relationship satisfaction e) low social support f) history of maternal/ paternal depression or anxiety g) current depression h) current anxiety i) low confidence in ability to parent j) low life satisfaction/ happiness
Exclusion criteria
1. The parents have a disability, prediagnosed medical condition or severe psychopathology which would impair participant’s understanding of the material presented in the program. 2. The parents are currently receiving psychological help or counselling 3. Major complications during pregnancy or disability in the baby 4. The couple expects to move away from the Brisbane region before completion of the program
Outcome results
None listed