New Make Parenting A Pleasure® preliminary evaluation results

Make Parenting A Pleasure® is currently being evaluated in a randomized clinical trial (treatment and control groups).  This is a first step for Parenting Now! to establish a rigorous evidence-base for the curriculum.  The evaluation is being conducted at sites across the United States currently offering Make Parenting A Pleasure® to parents in their communities.  The evaluation will measure how well Make Parenting A Pleasure® helps families in reducing symptoms of postnatal depression and parental stress, and increasing measures of family functioning, parenting skills,  social support, nurturing, and the understanding of child development and behavior.  The study consists of a pretest and 3 month posttest.

Preliminary results of the evaluation are very good.  Parents in the treatment group show significant improvement over the control group in the reduction of postnatal depression, and increased parenting skills and understanding child development and behavior, suggesting that Make Parenting A Pleasure® is especially effective in these areas.

For more information about the study, please contact Lynne Swartz, Executive Director at lswartz@parentingnow.org.  This study is funded in part by the Education Development Center, on behalf of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).