The implementation of evidence-based parenting interventions (EBPI) in diverse real-world settings is a crucial translational research step to making effective programs widely available and consequently improving the lives of children and their families. Nevertheless, these programs remain underutilized in the real world, with the transferability of EBPI from research settings to real-world contexts being complex and poorly understood. Even though several studies addressed the effects of EBPI, surprisingly little is known about how vulnerable families, such as those who use social welfare and/or engage with child protective services, benefit from community-based services to support parents in their parenting practices and dealing with child behavior problems. Supporting parents through EBPI is also a way of promoting children’s rights, given the known benefits of positive parenting to children’s development, and families’ mental health and wellbeing. Some of the most disseminated EBPI are part of the Triple P - Positive Parenting Program system, consisting of cognitive-behavioral EBPI underpinned by a self-regulatory framework. Several studies support the efficacy of Triple P interventions in the promotion of positive parenting, revealing positive effects of the interventions on child behavior problems, parenting practices and families’ social support network. However, despite the Triple P system’s dissemination, little is known about the interventions’ cost-effectiveness, with few studies identifying Standard Triple P (STP) as a cost-effective intervention in treating child behavior problems. Triple P interventions can be useful resources to provide parenting support in community-based services. In particular, STP, being an individual-format intervention tailored to each family’s needs, has an increased potential to support vulnerable families. However, when implementing an EBPI in real-world practice, a fundamental challenge is ensuring flexible implementation, i.e., introduce adaptations that fit the family’s and setting’s needs, yet without compromising fidelity to the program’s core components.
To fully understand the potential of STP delivered in community-based services to Portuguese vulnerable families, four important questions need to be answered: How is STP implemented in community-based services? Is STP effective? What are the benefits for different families? And to what extent is the intervention cost-effective?
The proposed research plan to answer these questions includes one quasi-experimental trial to evaluate the characteristics of the implementation, effects, and cost-effectiveness of STP delivered in community-based services to vulnerable families with 6- to 12-year-old children. Trial data will be collected from parents, children, and social services over 3 assessment time points until 10 weeks after the intervention, comparing those who receive STP to those who receive care as usual. Additional data will be collected regarding STP implementation, including program fidelity checklists, and the costs and benefits related to STP and CAU. This research will advance the understanding of STP implementation in real-world practice and STP effectiveness, addressing the benefits of STP on improving parenting practices and children’s development, and for which families and under which circumstances is STP cost-effective. The outputs will strengthen translational research by demonstrating the implementation characteristics, effects, and cost-effectiveness of STP delivered to vulnerable families in community-based services, and informing practice and policymaking. Contributions to society and decision-making will be achieved by informing on STP as a preventive intervention for vulnerable families and demonstrating when STP can be most effectively implemented to reduce family and societal burden and costs.