ACT: a possibility of universal child abuse prevention

• Grant number: 13/10417-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): May 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Psychological Treatment and Prevention
• Principal Investigator: Lúcia Cavalcanti de Albuquerque Williams
• Grantee: Jéssica de Assis Silva
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

An improvement in the quality of intrafamiliar life can be seen through the promotion of behaviors and attitudes incompatible with violence in parents and caregivers. Currently, parental training programs focusing on this type of prevention, as well as studies on the effectiveness of these programs are still scarce in developing countries. The present study aims to contribute to the analysis of the effectiveness of the ACT Raising Safe Kids program, developed by the American Psychological Association, for the Brazilian reality. The intervention's purpose is to assess behavioral characteristics of caregivers and children, such as internalizing and externalizing behaviors before and after the participation of parents in the program. The study will be conducted in Associação VERA (São Carlos / SP), an organization that develops activities to promote human rights. There will be about 54 parents / caregivers of children aged between six and eight years old, as well as their partners, participating in the program. The study design is a randomized controlled trial with equivalent measures of pre-test/post-test/follow-up and control and experimental groups, divided into at least two sub-groups, involving 6 to a maximum of 18 caregivers. Besides the instruments proposed by the program, the study will include instruments of the ASEBA family and Parenting Styles Inventory (IEP). Results that express a modification of the repertoire of the adult and the child will be compared with the parental style of the caregiver provided by the IEP before and after intervention, favoring the analysis of the effectiveness of ACT as a parental training and, consequently, as a possibility of universal prevention violence against children.