Skip to content

Integrated Model for Promoting Parenting and Early School Readiness in Pediatrics

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT02459327
Enrollment
403
Registered
2015-06-02
Start date
2015-06-03
Completion date
2025-05-09
Last updated
2025-10-16

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Behavioral Symptoms, Child Behavior, Child Rearing, Depression, Infant Behavior, Parenting, Personal Satisfaction, Social Control, Informal

Keywords

Infant behavior, Child behavior, Parenting, Child rearing, Depression, Personal satisfaction, Randomized controlled trials, Intervention studies, Behavioral symptoms, Social behavior

Brief summary

This study tests a comprehensive approach to the promotion of school readiness in low-income families, beginning shortly after the birth of the child, through enhancement of positive parenting practices (and when present, reduction of psychosocial stressors) within the pediatric primary care platform. The investigators do so by integrating two evidence-based interventions: 1) a universal primary prevention strategy (Video Interaction Project \[VIP\]); and 2) a targeted secondary/tertiary prevention strategy (Family Check-up \[FCU\]) for families with infants/toddlers identified as having additional risks. VIP provides parents with a developmental specialist who videotapes the parent and child and coaches the parent on effective parenting practices at each pediatric primary care visit. FCU is a home-based, family-centered intervention that utilizes an initial ecologically-focused assessment to promote motivation for parents to change child-rearing behaviors, with follow-up sessions on parenting and factors that compromise parenting quality. Two primary care settings serving low-income communities in New York City, NY and Pittsburgh, PA will be utilized to test this integrated intervention in hospital-based clinics, providing information about translation across venues where one of the two interventions has been previously used alone. The investigators plan to test the VIP/FCU model in a randomized trial of 400 families utilizing parent surveys, observational data on parent-child interactions, and direct assessments of children's development, at key points during intervention follow-up. Analyses will address questions of program impact for the integrated program across all families and by key subgroups. The largest single contribution made by this study is to test whether an integrated primary and secondary/tertiary prevention strategy implemented in pediatric primary care can produce impacts on early school readiness outcomes, including social-emotional, pre-academic, and self-regulation. As such, this study has the potential to provide the scientific and practice communities with information about an innovative approach to promoting school readiness skills among low-income children.

Interventions

VIP utilizes pediatric well-child visits to build a relationship with an interventionist who facilitates self-reflection regarding interactions with the child through review of videotapes of the parent and child made that day and further facilitates interactions through provision of learning materials (toys and books).

BEHAVIORALFamily Check Up

FCU utilizes home visitation to build a relationship with an interventionist who assesses family strengths and challenges and uses motivational interviewing and evidence-based family management strategies to support parent and child behavioral change.

Sponsors

University of Pittsburgh
CollaboratorOTHER
NYU Langone Health
CollaboratorOTHER
New York University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
0 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Baby is getting pediatric care at Bellevue Hospital Center or Pittsburgh Children's Hospital * Caregiver primary language is English or Spanish * Family can be contacted (has a working phone) * Family attended second (follow-up) meeting with study team between when the child was aged 10days and 6weeks old

Exclusion criteria

* Birth weight \<2500gm * Gestational age \< 37 weeks * Not singleton birth (twin, triplet, etc.) * Known or suspected significant genetic abnormality * Known neurodevelopmental/neuromuscular disorder likely to affect development, movement, e.g., seizure disorder, microcephaly (low head circumference) * Known sensory defect * Known significant malformation likely to affect development or likely to require significant therapy * Meets criteria for Early Intervention at birth * Not in level I nursery at time of enrollment * Significant postnatal complication requiring level II or III nursery stay. Examples: sepsis, significant hypoglycemia, seizures * Mother with known significant impairment that will be barrier to communication and participation (e.g., intellectual disability, schizophrenia) * Baby not being discharged to mother or father * Mother and baby will be staying in shelter * Not planning to stay in NYC/ Pittsburgh for at least 3 years * Has previously participated in VIP or FCU projects * Baby experiencing significant medical issues * Doctor has concerns about baby's hearing or vision

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Children's self-regulationWhen the child is 4 years old - 6 years oldObserver reports of children's attention/emotional regulation during the direct assessment (e.g., Preschool Self-Regulation Interviewer Assessment, PSRA, Smith-Donald et al., 2007; Moffit Scale, Caspi et al., 1995)
Caregiver's cognitive stimulationWhen the child is 6 months - 6 years oldCaregiver's reports of cognitive stimulation. For example engagement in reading, teaching, and play (e.g., StimQ, Dreyer, Mendelsohn, & Tamis-LeMonda, 1995; Mendelsohn, Dreyer, & Tamis-LeMonda, 1999)
Caregiver's harsh parenting and disciplineWhen the child is 18 months - 6 years oldCaregiver's reports of discipline strategies (e.g., Socolar et al., 2004; Incredible Years, Webster-Stratton, 2001; Steele et al., 2005)
Caregiver-child interaction qualityWhen the child is 6 months - 6 years oldCaregiver's reports and coded videotaped interactions between caregivers and children (e.g., Parenting Young Children, PARYC; McEachern et al., 2011)
Quality of the home environmentWhen the child is 18 months oldObserver reports of the home environment (e.g., HOME inventory: Infant-Toddler (IT), Bradley & Caldwell, 1984)
Caregiver depressionWhen the child is 6 months - 6 years oldCaregiver's reports of depression (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Cox, Holden & Sagovsky, 1987; Cox, Chapman, Declan & Jones, 1995)
Caregiver stress/ supportWhen the child is 6 months - 6 years oldCaregiver's reports of stress, support, and perceptions of daily hassles (e.g., Abidin Parenting Stress Index, Abidin, 1990; General Life Satisfaction Questionnaire, Crnic, 1983; Parenting Daily Hassle scale, Crnic & Greenberg, 1990; Concern for Children scale, Vines & Baird, 2009)
Child prosocial and problem behaviorWhen the child is 6 months - 6 years oldCaregiver's reports of their child's behavioral problems, including externalizing and internalizing problems and prosocial behavior and social skills (e.g., Child Behavior Checklist; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000; BASC-3, Altmann et al., 2017; Infant-Toddler Social Emotional Assessment, ITSEA, Carter & Briggs-Gowan, 1993; Brief Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment, BITSEA, Briggs-Gowan & Carter, 2006; Positive Behavior Scale, Epps et al., 2003)
Children's early language skillsWhen the child is 6 months - 2 years oldCaregiver report of non-verbal communication and early expressive language (e.g., MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory; CDI, Fenson et al., 2008; Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scale, CSBS, Wetherby et al., 2001)
Child achievementWhen the child is 4 years old - 6 years oldDirect assessment of children's achievement, including receptive language skills, early academic skills including, reading, math, and writing as well as oral language abilities and academic knowledge (e.g., Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Tests; ROWPVT, Martin and Brownell, 2010; Woodcock Johnson-IV Letter-Word Identification, Applied Problems and Oral Language Comprehension (WJ-IV)/ Bateria III Woodcock-Munoz, Muñoz-Sandoval et al., 2007; McGrew et al., 2014; Test of Word Reading Eficiency (TOWRE), Tarar et al., 2015)
Child executive functioning skillsWhen the child is 4 years old - 6 years oldDirect assessment of children's executive functioning, including cognitive skills, inhibitory control, and effortful control (e.g., Dimensional Change Card Sort, DCCS, Zelazo, 2006; Walk a Line, Cookie Waiting, Kochanska et al., 2000)
Caregiver-child relationship qualityWhen the child is 4 years old - 6 years oldCaregiver's reports of relationship quality, including the caregiver's perception of conflict and warmth/openness in relationship with the child (e.g., Adult Child Relationship Scale, Pianta & Steinberg, 1991)

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Parenting QualityTime Frame: When the child is 2 - 4 years oldExaminer impressions of parenting quality, including measures of responsivity, acceptance, involvement, social skills, and affect. (e.g., items adapted from HOME inventory: Infant-Toddler (IT), Bradley & Caldwell, 1984)
Child temperamentWhen the child is 6 months, 4 years old, 6 years oldCaregiver's reports of their child's temperament (e.g., Infant Characteristics Questionnaire, Bates, Freeland, & Lounsbury, 1979; Children's Behavior Questionnaire, CBQ, Rothbart, 2007)
Special servicesWhen the child is 6 months - 6 years oldCaregiver's reports of their child's Early Intervention referrals and services received
Basic child healthWhen the child is 6 months - 6 years oldAttendance in well-child care, growth/ nutrition
Caregiver-child relationship qualityWhen the child is 18 months - 2 years oldCaregiver's reports of relationship quality, including the caregiver's perception of conflict and warmth/openness in relationship with the child (e.g., Adult Child Relationship Scale, Pianta & Steinberg, 1991)
Caregiver routines and activitiesWhen the child is 6 months - 6 years oldCaregiver's reports of routines and activities, including, play, planning, feeding, sleep and media (e.g., McEachern, Dishion, Weaver, Shaw, Wilson, Gardner, 2012; Mendelsohn et al., 2008; Infant Feeding Style Questionnaire, Thompson, A. L., et al. 2009; Parent Teacher Involvement, Kohl et al., 2000)
Caregiver relationship satisfactionWhen the child is 6 months - 6 years oldCaregiver's reports of relationship satisfaction and conflict (e.g., Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Spanier, 1976)
Caregiver regulation of negative emotionWhen the child is 24 months old and 6 years oldCaregiver's reports of their ability to maintain emotional equilibrium when faced with child rearing challenges (e.g., Raver, 2003) and difficulties with emotion regulation (Kaufman et al., 2015)
Caregiver confidenceWhen the child is 6 months - 4 years oldCaregiver's reports of their self-efficacy and beliefs related to children's behavior and school readiness. readiness (e.g., adapted Pachter, Sheehan & Cloutier, 2000; Parenting Self-Agency Measure, PSAM, Dumka et al., 1996)
Child narrative comprehensionWhen the child is 4 years old - 6 years oldDirect assessment of children's ability to understand and retell narratives, and use higher-order language (e.g., Reese et al., 2012)
Child Theory of MindWhen the child is 4 years oldDirect assessment of children's ability to mentally represent others' internal states, including measures of false belief and memory control (e.g., Mahy et al., 2017)
Caregiver MindfulnessWhen the child is 18 months oldCaregiver's reports of mindfulness in parenting behavior (e.g., Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting, IM-P, Duncan, 2007)

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: May 15, 2026