The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the normality of daily life for many children, their families, and schools, resulting in heightened levels of anxiety, depression, social isolation, and loneliness among young people (Deng et al., 2023; Ma et al., 2021; Racine et al., 2021). This poses a challenge on the school system. An integrated public health model of interventions is needed to address the problem and to safeguard the mental health and wellbeing of children. The Triple P – Positive Parenting Program is a multilevel system of parenting support with a strong evidence-base and wide international reach (Sanders, 2012, 2023; Sanders et al., 2014). The Level 2 (Triple P Seminar series) seem to be particularly relevant as it is designed as a brief, low intensity intervention that can be delivered universally (either in person or via telehealth), in schools, at low cost. The original Triple P seminar comprises three 90-120 minute seminars and has been found to be effective in changing parenting practices and improving child behavioural problems in many studies (e.g., Lee et al., 2022; Sanders et al., 2009; Sumargi et al., 2015). Two new seminars were developed to substitute two original seminars to cover the social and emotion wellbeing of children. The new series consist of three seminars – one focusing on general parenting skills (“The Power of Positive Parenting”), the other two focusing on helping children manage anxiety (“Helping Your Child to Manage Anxiety”) and (“Keeping your child safe from bullying”). Each seminar drew on content from more intensive clinical interventions targeting conduct problems (Sanders et al., 2009), anxiety disorders (Cobham et al., 2017) and peer victimization (Healy & Sanders, 2014). This study is the first large-scale, multi-site randomised controlled trial of a newly developed Triple P seminar series, tailored for the schools, as a response to the impacts of the pandemic.

The evaluation employed an Incomplete Batched Stepped Wedge Cluster Randomised Trial Design, with 380 Australian primary schools, from the states of South Australia, Queensland, and Victoria, recruited and randomised in three batches. Within each batch, schools were randomly assigned to either start the intervention immediately or start in six weeks. The Triple P seminar series was delivered as Zoom webinars. Parents completed measures about a wide range of child and family outcomes, such as child social, emotional, and behavioural wellbeing, parenting practices, parental self-regulation, specific areas of parenting, and the home-school communication at baseline, six weeks after baseline, and 12 weeks after baseline. Data collection is currently underway with over 2,300 parents recruited from participating schools, and will be completed in February 2024.

Interim data analyses revealed high levels of parental satisfaction with the online Triple P seminar series. Also, limited school clustering effect from the data was identified (average intra-cluster correlation < .01), which warranted further single-level data analyses. Final analysis will be conducted in Early 2024 with a Piecewise Latent Growth Curve Modelling approach on all intervention targeted outcomes. Given that the evaluation logic behind the current design is systematic replication. differences between batches and conditions will be examined through multigroup comparison. Findings from the final analysis will be presented at the European Conference on Educational Research 2024. We expect seeing positive changes in all intervention targeted child and family outcomes.

The findings from this project will extend the current knowledge of the effectiveness of brief, low intensity, universally offered, prevention-focused, evidence-based parenting support seminars series that was adapted for the school priorities in a post pandemic world. The approach adopted is consistent with the multi-level conceptual model of evidence-based parenting support for educational settings as outlined by Sanders et al. (2021).

This research was funded by the Australian Government Department of Education through the Emerging Priorities Program. Ethics approval was granted by the University of Queensland (ID: 2022/HE001114), the University of Adelaide (ID: 37018), Monash University (ID: 36385), and relevant education authorities. A total of 380 Australian primary schools were recruited with 47 schools registered after the completion of randomisation. These schools were added to the last group of schools receive the intervention. About 77% of schools were public schools and another 15% were catholic schools. More than half of the schools have a size between 100 and 500 enrolments. In terms of socioeconomic status, about 41% of the schools were from the lowest 50%. Also, 18% of the schools were from outer regional to very remote areas. Over 2,300 parents participated with about 86% identified themselves as the mother. About three-quarters of parents have university degrees and 88% were in employment. Children that the parents reported on had a mean age of 7.94 years with similar number of boys and girls. The evaluation employed an Incomplete Batched Stepped Wedge Cluster Randomised Trial Design. Schools were recruited in three batches. Within each batch, schools were subsequently randomly allocated to: 1) receiving seminars immediately; or 2) receiving seminars 6 weeks later. The next batch starts six weeks after the previous batch starts. Random allocations were conducted on an ongoing basis throughout the trial via Minimisation to achieve the optimal balance of school characteristics between groups. A comprehensive measure battery was administered to track changes in a wide range of child and family outcomes, such as child social, emotional, and behavioural wellbeing, parenting practices, parental self-regulation, specific areas of parenting, and the home-school communication over time. Parent-report survey data were collected online at baseline (T1), post-intervention (T2; 6 weeks after T1), and follow-up (T3; 12 weeks after T1). Data collection is underway and will be completed by February 2024. Data analysis will be finished by May 2024. Findings from the final analysis will be presented at the European Conference on Educational Research 2024. After missing data analysis, following the Intention to Treat (ITT) principle, a Piecewise Latent Growth Curve Modelling approach on all intervention targeted outcomes. Given that the evaluation logic behind the current design is systematic replication. differences between batches and conditions will be examined through multigroup comparison. We expect seeing positive changes in all intervention targeted child and family outcomes.

The findings from this study will extend our current knowledge of the effects of evidence-based parenting support delivered through brief, universally offered, low intensity parenting seminars delivered in school settings. The approach adopted is consistent with the multi-level conceptual model of evidence-based parenting support for educational settings as outlined by Sanders et al. (2021). The model highlights the unique value of the school setting to help normalize and destigmatize parenting programs and thereby increase parental engagement and widen the reach of parenting programs. The intervention being tested builds on previous studies showing that a brief three session Triple P seminar series on positive parenting can be effective in changing parenting practices and in improving children’s behaviour and adjustment. It extends earlier work by concurrently addressing in the same program, parents’ concerns about their children’s behaviour problems, anxiety and peer relationships, particularly school bullying. As the seminar series is a low intensity intervention, it is expected that a minority of children and parents with more complex problems may require additional support. The interpretation of findings from this study need to consider the study’s relative strengths and limitations. Relative strengths include recruiting many schools and parents from diverse backgrounds. The outcome assessments used reliable, validated and change sensitive assessment tools, and an experimental design that enabled the program to be sequentially introduced across the school year. This variant of the stepped wedge design is particularly useful in evaluating programs in schools where systematic replication of intervention effects with schools servicing as their own controls rather than relying on randomisation of schools to different conditions. The relative weaknesses of the study include reliance of parents as the primary informant for gauging intervention effects.  

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