Parenting UR Teens - a randomised trial of a parenting programme for parents of teenagers

INTERVENTION: Over an 18‐month period, Parenting NI advertised the programme in 13 places in Northern Ireland. For the duration of the study, parents who applied to attend the course were informed that agreeing to take part in a trial was a condition of being offered a place on the programme. Parents who agreed were randomised to start at the next available date (usually a couple of weeks), or be placed on a waiting list for a programme in approximately 12 weeks’ time. Parents who took part in the study were asked to complete a number of questionnaires. Those randomised to the intervention group complete these at the beginning and end of the programme. Those randomised to the wait‐list control group (who got the programme about 2‐3 months later) also completed questionnaires. They did this before the start of the programme attended by the intervention parents and before and after they attended their own programme. CONDITION: Adolescent problem behaviour ; Mental and Behavioural Disorders PRIMARY OUTCOME: 1. Parental wellbeing, measured by General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents (SIPA_; 2. Parent‐adolescent relationship, assessed by Parent Adolescent Relationships Questionnaire (PARQ); 3. Adolescent social functioning, assessed by parent report on the SIPA and the Child Disclosure Domain of the Stattin and Kerr Parental Monitoring scales; ; Primary outcomes for the experimental group were measured immediately pre and post intervention. Those in the wait‐list control completed the measures at three points: before the intervention group commenced their programme, and 3 months later, immediately before and after receiving the intervention. SECONDARY OUTCOME: 1. Parenting (monitoring, parental knowledge and parental control), assessed using the Stattin and Kerr Parental Monitoring scales; 2. Family functioning (communication, problem‐solving and maladaptive beliefs), assessed using the relevant subscales of the PARQ; 3. Teen social functioning (i.e., moodiness and social isolation, risk of behaving in a delinquent manner, perseverance at school), assessed by parental report using the relevant domains of the Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents (SIPA); ; Secondary outcomes for the experimental group were measured immediately pre and post intervention. Those in the wait‐list control completed the measures at three points: before the intervention group commenced their programme, and 3 months later, immediately before and after receiving the intervention. INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Parents of adolescents who were concerned about the challenge of parenting their teenager(s) 2. Parents could either seek to attend the programme because of an existing difficulty or in anticipation of the need to develop their parenting skills to meet the challenge of parenting an adolescent 3. Parents who applied to attend courses run between January 2011 and April 2012 in 13 locations across Northern Ireland 4. For the duration of the study, participation in the study was also an eligibility criterion for participation in the parenting programme