Pre-intervention child maltreatment risks, intervention engagement, and effects on child maltreatment risk within an RCT of MHealth and parenting intervention

Kathleen M Baggett; Betsy Davis; Connie Olwit; Edward G Feil

doi:10.3389/fdgth.2023.1211651

Pre-intervention child maltreatment risks, intervention engagement, and effects on child maltreatment risk within an RCT of MHealth and parenting intervention

Front Digit Health. 2023 Jul 11:5:1211651. doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2023.1211651. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Kathleen M Baggett¹, Betsy Davis², Connie Olwit¹, Edward G Feil²

Affiliations

¹ Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States.
² Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, OR, United States.

Abstract

Introduction: Evidence-based mental health and parenting support services for mothers postpartum can reduce risk for child maltreatment. However, women suffering economic and cultural stressors disproportionately shoulder the burden of infant caregiving while experiencing profound barriers to accessing mental health and parenting services. This article reports on an MHealth and parenting intervention targeting maternal mood and positive parent practices within a randomized controlled trial, which provided a unique opportunity to view pre-intervention child maltreatment risk, its relationship to subsequent intervention engagement, and intervention engagement effects on pre-post child maltreatment risk reduction.

Method: Principal component factor analysis was conducted to identify a modifiable pre-intervention child maltreatment risk construct within a combined MHealth and parenting intervention sample of 184 primarily Black mothers and their infants. An independent t-test was conducted to compare pre-intervention child maltreatment risk levels between mothers who went on to complete at least two-thirds of the intervention and those who did not. A GLM repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted to determine effects of intervention engagement on child maltreatment risk reduction.

Results: Pre-intervention child maltreatment risk did not differentiate subsequent maternal intervention completion patterns. Mothers who completed two-thirds of the intervention, compared to those who did not, demonstrated significant reductions in pre-post child maltreatment risk.

Discussion: Findings underscore the potential of MHealth parenting interventions to reduce substantial child maltreatment risk through service delivery addressing a range of positive parenting and behavioral health needs postpartum, a particularly vulnerable developmental period for maternal depression and child maltreatment risk.

Keywords: child maltreatment; digital MHealth; infant; parenting support; violence prevention.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, grant number R01 HD086894.