A comprehensive 5-year evaluation of project 12-ways: An ecobehavioral program for treating and preventing child abuse and neglect

Evaluations of services designed to ameliorate the problems associated with child abuse and/or neglect (CAN) are relatively rare. The present investigation examines the impact of ecobehavioral services provided to families with extensive histories of CAN and examines the demographics of two groups of families. Project 12-Ways provides in-home ecobehavioral treatment to families referred by the state protective service agency. Impact data were collected and compared from families served by Project 12-Ways and families served by the stale protective service agency and other community programs. These data focused on the rates of CAN, placement of children outside of the parental home, and permanent termination of parental rights. Comparisons were made on pretreatment, treatment, and post-treatment rates. It was determined that both samples experienced significant decrements in CAN. While the two samples were equivalent in rates of CAN, data were presented showing differences in severity and priority of CAN which suggest that ecobehavioral services can be successful in reducing CAN. Thus, a heuristic model is available for evaluating CAN, including the manner in which the data were collected, the range of independent variables included, and the considerable span of the families' lives covered in the evaluation. These results suggest some modification of the way in which follow-up data are collected and used to change policy and practice.     

Consumer Evaluation of an Ecobehavioral Program for Prevention and Intervention of Child Maltreatment

This study was conducted to evaluate parental satisfaction and acceptability of Project SafeCare, an intensive parent training program to prevent and treat child abuse and neglect with a focus on three areas of intervention: (1) home safety, (2) infant and child health care, and (3) bonding and stimulation. Social validation questionnaires were employed to evaluate the acceptability, the effectiveness, and the outcome of treatments based on parents' perspectives. The questionnaires were divided into four categories: outcome measures, process and procedures, staff performance, and training modes. Overall, Project SafeCare was reported to be very successful and parents reported high satisfaction with all three training programs. Parents rated the procedures, staff, and outcomes very positively. Although parents liked the videos and rated them positively, they seemed to prefer training by counselors to training by video. Data were collected on 45 families and the training was conducted over 15 weeks.     

Safety, Health Care, and Bonding Within an Ecobehavioral Approach to Treating and Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect

This paper describes Project SafeCare, an ecobehavioral research and treatment project with families reported or at risk for child abuse or neglect. Preliminary demographic data are reviewed along with indirect assessment data. Four case studies are described to exemplify the effects of training provided to families. The implications for the current assessment data, treatment, and outcome are discussed.