12 Mar 07

Teaching parents better ways of bringing up children is likely to improve the child's behaviour, according to researchers from Oxford University and Bangor University.

The study published on bmj.com is the first of its kind to demonstrate the effectiveness of the programme in a community setting. The programme was delivered by Sure Start staff across North and Mid Wales - Sure Start is a government strategy aimed at providing parenting support in high-risk communities. More than 150 parents from socially disadvantaged areas took part and all had children, aged three and four years, with a risk of bad behaviour. They were placed in two groups, either taking part in the 12 weekly group sessions, or on the waiting list (the control group).

Parenting skills and the children's behaviour were assessed at the start of the study and six months later by the parents and by people observing them. Parents were also asked to rate their own feelings and levels of stress and depression.

Children on the programme showed significantly reduced antisocial and hyperactive behaviour and increased self-control, compared to those in the control group. The parents reported a drop in stress levels and improved parenting skills.

The study, co-authored by Dr Frances Gardner who is Reader of Child and Family Psychology in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work, concludes that this holds 'important lessons for the UK government because, unlike the disappointing results from the national evaluation of Sure Start, it shows that choosing an evidence-based programmecan achieve remarkable outcomes in high-risk children whose parents generally fail to engage with services.'

In a separate study published online by the BMJ, the researchers also added that the Incredible Years parenting programme was cost-effective. They calculated that it would cost £1,344 to bring the average child on the programme to below the clinical cut-off point and £5,486 to bring the child with the highest-rated behaviour disorder (using the Eyberg Child Behaviour Index) to below the cut-off point.

Around five and ten per cent of UK children aged between five and 15 years present with clinically significant conduct disorders and the problem is highest in socially disadvantaged areas.