U.VA. PROFESSOR'S BOOK OFFERS EVALUATION GUIDE FOR CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION PROGRAMS CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA., Sept. 10 -- Two University of Virginia educators are among three co-authors of "Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect Through Parent Education" (Paul Brooks Publishing Co., Baltimore) a newly released book intended to help social service professionals evaluate and strengthen child-abuse prevention programs. In 1994 alone, 48 states received 2.9 million reports of alleged child maltreatment, of which more than 1 million were substantiated. Almost half of the victims were aged 8 or younger, and almost 5,400 died as a result of their abuse or neglect, according to the book, written by N. Dickon Reppucci, a U.Va. professor of psychology; Jennifer Woolard, a doctoral student and lecturer at U.Va.; and Preston A. Britner, who earned his doctorate from U.Va. in 1996 and is now an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut's School of Family Studies. The focus of most child abuse prevention programs has been on educating parents in high risk circumstances. "Their underlying assumptions are that if parents' stress can be reduced, if their knowledge of child development can be improved, and if their social coping skills and supportive networks can be enhanced, then parenting strategies will be improved, and many forms of child maltreatment may be prevented," the authors write. "These [parent education] programs have become the most popular and prevalent forms of intervention for preventing child abuse and neglect." Though parent education programs have become popular, budget cuts in social services have also become a fact of life. Thus, it is imperative that those who run these programs learn to evaluate these programs in order to enhance the likelihood of their long-term effectiveness, the OVER authors write. Reppucci, Woolard and Britner evaluated 25 such programs in Virginia and present their findings in the book, profiling five particularly successful endeavors. They also provide a complete review of the literature on parent education as well as a summary of various program curricula and program measures. Two final chapters summarize their recommendations and conclusions. In addition, the authors provide 10 jargon-free briefs for easy reference by social service professionals, which they purposely did not copyright in hopes that social service personnel and parent educators will feel free to use the briefs for training and other activities. The briefs cover such topics as "The First Step: A Needs Evaluation," "Evaluation: Making It Work for You," "Targeting and Recruiting Clients," "How to Improve Client Retention," "Managing Staff and Volunteers," and "Fundraising." One program the book highlights focused on mothers at three Hampton-area hospitals who were at the highest risk for child abuse. They were: unmarried; from low-income families; young, ages 11 to 20 at the birth of their first child; and had limited social support networks and/or limited knowledge of important child development milestones. Two weeks after giving birth, the mothers were offered practical information; a gift, such as a child safety car seat; and enrollment in a parenting class. They also took a test that measures parenting attitudes, which showed that the mothers who accepted enrollment into the parenting classes showed more risk factors for potential abuse than did those who declined. The classes ran for 12-week cycles three times a year, averaging 10 mothers and their babies per session. Two months after the courses were finished, the mothers were contacted to check on the child's physical condition, the mother's school status, and to answer any questions that may have arisen. Three to five years after birth, Virginia's Child Abuse Registry database was searched for substantiated reports of abuse among those who were merely contacted in the hospital, those who OVER received the initial home visit but did not enroll in the program, and those who enrolled in the program. "Mothers who were enrolled in the 12-week parent education program, despite demonstrating a higher number of risk factors than controls, were less likely to have any founded reports of abusing or neglecting their children," the authors wrote. The database search revealed that those who went through with the program had much fewer founded reports of abuse than those in the other two groups: 1.6 percent, compared to 6.7 percent of those just visited in the hospital and 7.3 percent of those who received one home visit. Telephone follow-ups showed that program graduates were more likely than non-graduates to have completed high school or to be enrolled in GED classes (68 percent to 50 percent); less likely to have had a second child before age 21 (29 percent to 43 percent); more likely to have had some college or vocational courses after high school graduation (39 percent to 28 percent). "The evaluation represents a rare attempt to examine systematically the efficacy of a service program in producing the intended outcomes," the authors wrote. "... This paper represents an example of how a comprehensive, flexible, well-constructed, and well-executed program can be effective and - perhaps just as important - document its effectiveness." Moreover, the evaluation contributed to the agency getting its program grant renewed, and the agency was asked to help another community develop a similar program. In sum, the evaluation helped the agency to achieve its aims. ### September 9, 1997 For more information, N. Dickon Reppucci may be reached at (804) 924-0662 or (804) 982-5052; Jennifer Woolard may be reached at (804) 982-5666; and Preston A. Britner may be reached at (860) 486-3765. Television reporters should contact the U.Va. TV News Office at (804) 924-7550.