Evaluation of the 2014 Community Violence Prevention Program's Parent Program

• NCJ Number: 250361
• Author(s): Jessica Reichert; Hannah Ridge
• Date Published: July 2015
• Length: 85 pages
• Grant Number(s): 10-DJ-BX-0015
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
• Corporate Author: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
• Sale Source: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
• Publication Format: Document; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report presents the findings and methodology of an evaluation of Illinois' Community Violence Prevention Program's (CVPP's) Parent Program, whose goal was to increase protective factors that reduce child maltreatment by recruiting and training nearly 1,000 Chicago-area parents to lead service projects that assist other parents in 20 communities to improve protective factors against child maltreatment.

Abstract

The evaluation analyzed multiple surveys of just over 3,500 staff and participants, as well as administrative data in obtaining feedback on training and general program operations. The four protective factors examined were family functioning and resiliency, social support, nurturing and attachment, and knowledge of child development and parenting. Pre- and post-tests measured participant changes in scores on the protective factors after program participation. Based on the scores of 300 participants, all four protective factors had a small increase on average scores; however, the increases were especially small on two protective factors, namely, social support and knowledge of child development and parenting. All community programs were required to offer parent-led "Parent Cafes," a parent engagement strategy that uses small group conversations to facilitate self-reflection, peer-to-peer learning, support, and education on protective factors that reduce child maltreatment. The most commonly requested improvement to Parent Cafes was to expand them to more locations in the community and increase their length and frequency. Incorporating technology and social networking education was also requested. This request came mainly from parents inexperienced in the technology their children frequently used. The Parent Program ended in August 2014. It is recommended that similar programs created in the future should offer more information on resources families can use to cope with stress. Younger parents and primary caregivers should be targeted for recruitment into such programs, and additional data should be collected on program participants and their children. 24 tables, 22 figures, 30 references, and appended protective factors survey