National Center for Sexual Violence Prevention
Co-Principle Investigators, Drs. Shannon Self-Brown and Amanda Gilmore have secured Department of Defense funding ($668,677; 06/01/2020 – 05/30/2022) through an IPA (Intergovernmental Personnel Act) to establish the National Center for Sexual Violence Prevention (NCSVP) that will implement the U.S. military’s national institute for certifying its sexual assault prevention workforce professionals. The current IPA establishes eligibility to apply for continuous annual renewals in the amount $300,000 to sustain the work of the NCSVP’s institute for certifying U.S military sexual assault prevention workforce professionals. In addition to the NCSVPs recognition for certifying the U.S. military’s sexual violence prevention workforce, Dr. Gilmore’s established research on sexual assault prevention will be housed in this center and will stimulate future research focused on sexual violence prevention, which is currently a national priority and a priority of the Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development, to develop evidence-based interventions to prevent abuse, including sexual abuse, and to study real-world implementation and effectiveness of accessible interventions and their scaling to maximize public health benefit.
The Next Generation of Evidence-Based Home Visiting Services: Learning from COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences with Virtual Delivery
Evidence-based parenting programs that aim to support child safety and well-being are contemplating what “usual care” should look like as we transition out of the COVID-19 pandemic. SafeCare, an evidence-based home visiting program with more than 100 accredited agencies delivering services across the U.S., has typically delivered its curriculum through certified home visitors (providers) in the family’s home. However, the public health guidelines of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic led SafeCare and others to pivot to delivering sessions via telephone and/or video communication in lieu of face-to-face home visits. This project will collect and analyze data about the virtual delivery experience from focus groups of SafeCare providers (nine hourlong virtual focus groups with three to four participants each). Results will help us understand how home visiting programs can pursue innovative service delivery methods going forward to reach families most effectively. This project is funded was awarded to Dr. Lindsay Bullinger (Georgia Tech) and Dr. Shannon Self-Brown by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
The impact of SafeCare on stress biomarkers
Examinations of child maltreatment (CM) prevention programs highlight positive reductions in self-reported parental stress, a commonly reported risk factor for CM perpetration among parents. However, there are a limited number of studies exploring the impact of these programs on the physiological biomarkers for stress, such as cortisol and salivary alpha amylase (sAA) levels. The goal of this project is to expand a previous multidisciplinary study that assessed cortisol and sAA levels to include two new biomarkers, telomere length and DNA methylation) and stress responses with at-risk mother-child dyads who participate in a modified version of SafeCare, an evidence-based, behavioral-parenting program. High-risk mothers (n=20) will be randomly assigned to participate in the parenting intervention (n=10) or receive parenting materials via the mail (n=10). Parents and children will be assessed at pre-, and post-intervention for parental stress and behavior (self-report and observational), and have the physiological biomarkers measured. The primary objective is to compare self-reported stress levels to biomarker assessments, as well as to examine changes in parental stress, CM risk, and biomarker measures from pre- to post-intervention for parents who do and do not complete the parenting intervention. The biomarker data collected here for this project will be included in an NIH R01 to be submitted in FY 22.
JoyPop
Dr. Self-Brown and PREVenT Lab Alumna, Dr. Ashwini Tiwari, received pilot funding to explore the feasibility of integrating the mobile application, JoyPop, for use in child maltreatment-related evidence-based programs, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and SafeCare. The goal of this study is to explore the feasibility of utilizing mobile health app technology to augment evidence-based services for victimized youth and at-risk parents for maltreatment. The specific aims are as follows:
Aim 1: Examine attitudes and feasibility concerns regarding augmenting service delivery practices with mobile technology among providers of evidence-based practices.
Aim 2: Explore the acceptance of the JoyPopTM mobile app among providers and clients of these evidence-based practices
SafeCare Haiti
Dr. Self-Brown and Dr. Sarah McCool are currently exploring the feasibility of implementing SafeCare in Haitian Birthing homes. This research proposes to implement SafeCare in Haiti birthing homes, targeting outcomes of positive parent-child interaction, child safety, and child health. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has one of the highest under-five mortality rates. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has designated Haiti as a priority country for maternal and child health (MCH) due to the low percentage of children who receive medical care. This initiative could decrease the risk for under-five morbidity and mortality through the delivery of effective parenting education.
In this proposed project, the investigators will explore the feasibility of implementing SafeCare in birthing homes across Haiti. Four focus groups (two for birthing home providers and two for mothers of young children) will be conducted in two birthing homes in Haiti to explore parenting practices and acceptance of SafeCare modules.
SafeCare NICU
Dr. Self-Brown and Dr. Rachel Culbreth received pilot funding to explore the feasibility and acceptability of SafeCare adapted for NICU parents. The proposed study seeks to modify an existing, evidence-based parent-training program, SafeCare, for administration to NICU families. SafeCare has demonstrated efficacy for promoting parent and child bonding, reducing parental stress, improving parental depression, and ultimately reducing child abuse and neglect. Through the traditional SafeCare program, trained professionals work with caregivers and their young children involved with state prevention or child protection services in their home environments to improve parents’ skills in several domains. Parents are taught, for example, how to plan and implement activities with their children, respond appropriately to child behaviors, improve home safety, and address common health issues. SafeCare is generally provided in weekly home visits lasting approximately 1 hour. SafeCare has shown reductions in parental stress via self-report and biomarkers and improvements in-home safety, parent-child interaction skills, and healthcare skills. SafeCare has also been adapted for paternal/father caregivers and is implemented in international settings, including Kenya, Australia, England, Spain, and Israel.
Dad2K (Funded by NIMHD)
Dad2k was an NIH-funded project focused on efforts to include fathers in positive parenting programs. The project included a development phase, in which we iteratively modified the content and delivery of the SafeCare Parent-Child Interaction module to improve the relevance of the program for fathers. Once completed, the adapted program was tested in an efficacy trial, to examine parenting and child outcomes. Outcomes are published in the following papers:
Self-Brown, S., Osborne, M.C., Boyd, Jr., C., DeVeausse Brown, N., Rostad, W., Patterson, A., Baker, E., Thomas, A., McAdam, E.M., Jackson, M., Glasheen, T.L., & Lai, B.L. (2018). The Impact of SafeCare® Dads to Kids Program on Father Maltreatment Risk and Involvement: Outcomes and Lessons Learned from an Efficacy Trial. Child Abuse & Neglect, 83, 31-41.
Self-Brown, S., Osborne, M., Lai, B., DeVeausse-Brown, N., Glasheen, T., & Adams, M. (2017). Initial findings from a feasibility trial examining the SafeCare© Dads to Kids Program with marginalized fathers. Journal of Family Violence, 32 (4), 1-16.
Rostad, W.L., Self-Brown, S., Boyd Jr., C., Osborne, M., & Patterson, A. (2017). Exploration of factors predictive of at-risk fathers’ participation in a pilot study of an augmented evidence-based parent training program: A mixed methods approach. Children and Youth Services Review, 79, 485-494.
Self-Brown, S., Cowart-Osborne, M., Baker, E., Thomas, A., Boyd Jr., C., Chege, E., Jackson, M., Meister, E., & Lutzker, J. (2015). Dad2K: An adaptation of SafeCare to enhance positive parenting skills with at-risk fathers. Journal of Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 37, 138-155.
SafeCare Tech (Funded by NIMH)
This project focused on the development and pilot testing of an innovative technology-enhanced implementation approach, which will increase the resources offered to child welfare providers during the implementation of an evidence-based parenting program, SafeCare. Following development and validation of the SafeCare computer-mediated approach, we completed a feasibility trial with SafeCare providers who were randomly assigned to either Implementation-as-Usual or Technology-Enhanced SafeCare Implementation. Provider outcomes of interest were SafeCare fidelity, perceptions of job demands and resources during EBP implementation, and feasibility/satisfaction ratings for the technology-enhanced SafeCare software. Outcomes are published in the following paper:
Self-Brown, S., Osborne, M.C., Rostad, W., & Feil, E. (2017). A Technology-Mediated Implementation of an Evidence-Based Child Maltreatment Prevention Program. Child Maltreatment, 22 (4) 344-353.
SafeCare Effectiveness Trial (Funded by PCORI)
This project was a randomized trial of the SafeCare© model compared to services as usual (SAU) for child-welfare involved caregivers. Teams of providers at nine sites were randomized to implement SafeCare (19 teams; 119 providers) or continue with SAU (17 teams; 118 providers). Two hundred eighty-eight caregivers (193 SafeCare; 95 SAU) with children aged 0-5 who were receiving services agreed to complete a baseline and 6-month assessment. Assessments measured positive parenting behaviors, parenting stress, protective factors, and neglectful behaviors using validated scales. Outcomes are published in the following paper:
Whitaker, DJ, Self-Brown, S., Hayat, M., Osborne, M., Weeks, E., Reidy, D., & Lyons, M. (2020). Effect of the SafeCare© intervention on parenting outcomes among parents in child welfare systems: Preventive Medicine,138.
Whitaker, DJ, Lyons, M., Weeks, E., Hayat, M., Self-Brown, S., & Zahidi, R. (2020). Does adoption of an evidence-based practice lead to job turnover? Results from a randomized trial. Journal of Community Psychology, 14(4), 1258-1272.