NCJ Number
224549
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 13 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2008 Pages: 362-367
Date Published
November 2008
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article describes the use of cell phones to improve a parenting intervention program.
Abstract
This brief report describes the development and initial testing of a parenting program, Planned Activities Training (PAT), which is enhanced through the use of cellular phones to promote the active engagement of parents. The PAT is described as a five-session intervention aimed at improving parent-child interactions, increasing child engagement in daily activities, and reducing challenging child behaviors. The work notes that one of the biggest challenges which face home visiting programs aimed at high-risk families is keeping families involved in the intervention. Cellular phones are said to afford the opportunity for home visitors to maintain regular communication with parents between intervention visits and thus retain high-risk families in parenting interventions. Additionally, the authors indicate that the use of cellular phones could potentially also increase the dosage of intervention provided to families and the fidelity with which parents implement the intervention, thus resulting in improved outcomes for parents and children. The work is based on results that, to date, show that 19 parents have completed PAT and cell phone--enhanced PAT, and all have met the 90 percent correct mastery criterion and demonstrated improvements in their parenting behaviors. The parents involved have rated PAT and the text messaging and cellular phone call enhancements very positively. References