Development of a Parenting Support Program to Prevent Abuse of Adolescents in South Africa

Abstract

Violence against children increases in adolescence, but there is a research and practice gap in research-supported child abuse prevention for the adolescent years. A pilot program for low-resource settings was developed in collaboration with nongovernmental organizations, government, and academics in South Africa, using research-supported principles. Method: This study used a pre-post design to test initial effects of a 10-session parenting program with 60 participants (30 caregiver-adolescent dyads) in high-poverty rural South Africa. Areas requiring further testing and adaptation were also identified. Results: Pre-post findings show medium to large program effects in reducing child abuse and adolescent problem behavior, as well as large effects in improvements of positive parenting, and perceived parent and adolescent social support. Discussion: There is potential to reduce child abuse, improve parenting, and reduce adolescent problem behavior in rural South Africa through parenting programs. Further development, testing and longer term follow-up are required to ascertain potential for scale-up.

Exploring opportunities for coordinated responses to intimate partner violence and child maltreatment in low and middle income countries: a scoping review

“…Two of the studies were based in South Africa, two in Uganda, one in Liberia and one in Thailand. Of the six studies, two described programmes that were designed to address IPV and CM jointly (Ashburn, Kerner, Ojamuge, & Lundgren, 2016;Hatcher, Colvin, Ndlovu, & Dworkin, 2014;Van den Berg et al, 2013); one was designed to address IPV, but reported unintended outcomes for CM (Abramsky et al, 2014(Abramsky et al, , 2016Kyegombe et al, 2015); and three were designed to address CM, but reported unintended outcomes for IPV (Cluver, Lachman et al, 2016;Cluver, Meinck et al, 2016;Sim, Annan, Puffer, Salhi, & Betancourt, 2014). Table 1 presents four studies which used a randomised controlled trial with a nested qualitative component: REAL Fathers in Uganda (Ashburn et al, 2015); SASA!…”

“…Table 2 presents one study which used a pre-post non-randomised design. Sinovuyo Caring Families in South Africa is distinct from other parenting programmes described, as it targets older children who have been identified as having behavioural problems or a suspected history of abuse (Cluver, Lachman et al 2016;Cluver, Meinck et al 2016). Designed specifically to address CM, it also reported outcomes for IPV, both measured quantitatively.…”

“…Similarly, reports of changes in relation to harsh and abusive parenting practices were based on caregiver accounts (Ashburn et al, 2015;Kyegombe et al, 2015; and only two studies included follow-up interviews with children (Cluver, Lachman et al, 2016;Cluver, Meinck et al, 2016;Sim, Annan, et al, 2014). Two of the trials and the pre-post pilot study had short follow-up periods (Cluver, Lachman et al, 2016;Cluver, Meinck et al, 2016;Sim, Annan, et al, 2014). Longitudinal research using mixed methods designs is needed to strengthen the evidence in LMIC regarding sustainability of programme outcomes.…”

“…A buddy system consisting of peer support provides help to participants between sessions. The curriculum draws on evidence-based parenting programmes and includes collaborative problem solving, home practice and discussion (Cluver, Lachman et al 2016). Session content includes trust building, talking about emotions, dealing with stress and anger, joint problem solving, non-violent discipline techniques, rules and routines, responding to a crisis, and keeping adolescents safe in the community.…”

“…With regards to the strength of the evidence, not all outcomes were measured quantitatively in the studies that used a trial design, but relied on qualitative data from interviews (Kyegombe et al, 2015;. The IPV finding for Sinovuyo Caring Families was partially based on a quantitative measure of caregiver and adolescent attitudes towards sexual and gender based violence and traditional gender roles (Cluver, Lachman et al 2016). However, the use of scales that measure attitudes and knowledge are not reliable indicators of behaviour change and direct measures of IPV are needed.…”