Parents screened for the Incredible Years

The Social Research Unit has begun collecting data from parents for its first randomised control trial of the Incredible Years programme in Birmingham.

 
The Incredible Years BASIC programme (IY) is set to launch in September 2009, as part the Brighter Futures Strategy to improve children's behaviour in the city.
 
Incredible Years is a training programme for parents of children between the ages of three to four years who may suffer from behavioural difficulties. It is one of three evidence-based programmes piloted this year. Others include the Triple-P parenting programme and the PATHS curriculum.
 
Six Children Centers have been selected to participate in the Incredible Years pilot, and will receive training to deliver the 14-week parenting programme with fidelity. The Social Research Center has been commissioned to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme in improving parenting skills and reducing child’s behaviour problems through randomised control trials.
 
The screening and primary outcomes measure for the study will be conducted through parent completed measures, mainly the parents' Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), to assess social, emotional and behavioural problems. Another data collection is set to take place in 6 months after the programme has been implemented to measure change in the results.