Court-mandates and parent training: Outcomes of the ACT raising safe kids program for groups of mandated and voluntary parents

The ACT Raising Safe Kids program (ACT-RSK; Silva, 2011), developed by the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Violence Prevention Office, is an early prevention intervention focusing on parents and caregivers of young children. The program is implemented in many communities with a diversity of caregivers, including court mandated parents in some communities. However, it has not yet been established whether court-mandated parents benefit from the program. This study was conducted in the United States with a total of 65 participants, including 35 court-mandated and 30 voluntary parents. Combined groups of court-mandated and voluntary parents completed the ACT-RSK program. The participants completed measures of parenting skills and knowledge just prior to, and just after completion of the program. Results indicated the total sample and the mandated subsample benefited significantly from the program with regards to improved parenting behaviour and limiting and supervising children’s media use. Mandated status (mandated versus voluntary) did not significantly impact outcomes on the measures, but mandated participants had greater improvements on a measure of parental responding to children’s behaviours. The groups did not differ significantly in rates of drop out from the program, nor in number of sessions attended. Findings suggest that maltreating parents who are court-mandated to attend can benefit significantly from the ACT-RSK program, and do not have higher rates of program drop out.