The Sinovuyo Caring Families Project: a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Parenting Programme

It has been established that children in families affected by either intimate partner violence or Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) are at substantially increased risk of poor parenting and child maltreatment. In the sub-Saharan African context of high levels of HIV/AIDS and family violence, it is crucial that parents be supported to establish positive parenting practices and reduce harsh or abusive parenting within their families.This randomized controlled trial will be testing the Sinovuyo Caring Families Program (n = 296), a 12-session (2.5 hour per session) parenting intervention for primary caregivers of children between 2 and 9 years old. Participants will not be restricted to biological parents and include primary caregivers of children between 2 and 9 years old, who live in the same house as the child at least 4 nights per week. Participants will be recruited through systematic household sampling, liaising with Western Cape Department of Social Development and local community-based NGOs. Self-reporting questionnaires and qualitative observational assessment data for intervention and control groups will be collected at pre- and post-test evaluation as well as 12-month follow-up. Primary outcomes will include child behaviour problems, harsh and inconsistent parenting and positive parenting. Secondary outcomes will include parental depression, parental stress, parental monitoring and supervision and parent perceived social support.