Child-Adult Relationship Enhancements in Primary (PriCARE) is a trauma-informed group training program to teach caregivers techniques to support the social and emotional growth of children. The theoretical foundation is derived from attachment and social learning theory. The program is designed as a prevention model for children with behavioural concerns who might be at risk for maltreatment.
The program is designed for children with behavioural concerns who might be at risk for maltreatment. One RCT was conducted in the USA with an initial sample size of 410, and a final sample size of 120 (Schilling et al. 2017). Parents were recruited from an urban primary care clinic, and 15% were Hispanic, 43% Black, and 26% White. Children were aged between 2 and 6 years. 54% ofparents were aged between 18 and 29 years, 26% between 30 and 39 years, and 20% were over the age of 40. Income levels were as follows: under US$22,000 (51% of the sample); US$22-33,000 (30%); and over US$33,000 (19%). For education levels, 15% of participants had not finished high school, 34% had a high school diploma; 51% had attended some college. Family violence was reported by 11% of the sample.
The review did not identify any evidence that the program has been evaluated in Australia or with First Nations communities.
Parent empathy, Corporal punishment attitudes, Acceptance of child’s autonomy: As measured by the AAPI Inventory, there were a slight but significant increase in empathy in the intervention group, compared to control; corporal punishment attitudes and acceptance of child’s autonomy improved slightly in the intervention group.
None.
None.
Overall, the program had a positive effect on client outcomes.
Promising research evidence:
There are 6 weekly one and a half hour sessions. Caregivers attend sessions without their children. This program is delivered in a clinical setting.
Information not available
Generalisability is limited by 172 families not enrolling, and lack of blinding of caregivers to the study aim.
An RCT was conducted in the USA with an initial sample size of 410 families and a final sample size of 120 families (Schilling et al. 2017).
16 Feb 2023
We acknowledge Aboriginal people as the First Nations Peoples of NSW and pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future.
Informed by lessons of the past, Department of Communities and Justice is improving how we work with Aboriginal people and communities. We listen and learn from the knowledge, strength and resilience of Stolen Generations Survivors, Aboriginal Elders and Aboriginal communities.
You can access our apology to the Stolen Generations.