Our Research

Program Logic Model

Program Efficacy

Developed in collaboration with parents of young children, the Chicago Parent Program is guided by a strong theory and supported by rigorous research. The Chicago Parent Program is unique in its strong research base centered on families in community, school, and mental health settings experiencing economic disadvantage and social adversity. Program testing and implementation has been generously funded through the National Institutes of Health, The Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, the Leonard and Helen Stulman Foundation, Rush University Medical Center, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Abel Foundation, the Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation, and the Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Fund.

Chicago Parent Program Parent Group Outcomes

Parents who participated in the Chicago Parent Program had:

•Improvements in children’s behavior problems (based on independent observations, teacher ratings, and parent-report)

•Reductions in parents’ use of corporal punishment

•Increases in parents’ consistency with discipline

•Increases in parenting confidence

•Improvements in children’s behavior in the classroom based on teachers’ report of behavior problems

•Equivalent benefits compared to other evidence-based programs but greater parent satisfaction and at lower cost

Peer reviewed articles:

Reducing Preschool Behavior Problems in an Urban Mental Health Clinic: A Pragmatic, Non-Inferiority Trial https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30768419

Does Parent Training Format Affect Treatment Engagement? A Randomized Study of Families at Social Risk https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5918300/

Study protocol for a comparative effectiveness trial of two parent training programs in a fee-for-service mental health clinic https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3939819/

The Chicago Parent Program: Comparing 1-Year Outcomes for African American and Latino Parents of Young Children http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3442153/

Efficacy of the Chicago Parent Program with Low-Income African American and Latino Parents of Young Children https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2770507/pdf/nihms99248.pdf

Preventive Parent Training with Low-Income, Ethnic Minority Families of Preschoolers https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2007-08747-001

Promoting Mental Health in Early Childhood Programs Serving Families from Low-income Neighborhoods http://jap.sagepub.com/content/13/5/313.full.pdf+html

Book chapters:

Breitenstein, S., Gross, D., & Bettencourt, A. (2019). The Chicago Parent Program. In E. T. Gershoff & S. J. Lee (Eds.), Ending the Physical Punishment of Children: A Guide for Clinicians and Practitioners, 1^st ed. Washington DC: American Psychological Association Publishing.

Gross, D., Breitenstein, S., Eisbach, S., Hoppe, E., & Harrison, J. (2014). Promoting Mental Health in Early Childhood Programs: Serving Low-income Ethnic Minority Families. In M. Weist, N. Lever, C. Bradshaw, & J. Owens (Eds.), Handbook of School Mental Health, 2nd ed, pp. 109-130. New York: Springer US.

Gross, D., Garvey, C., Julion, W., & Fogg, L. (2007). Preventive parent training with low-income ethnic minority parents of preschoolers. In JM Briesmeister & CE Schaefer (Eds.), Handbook of parent training: Helping parents prevent and solve problem behaviors (3^rd ed.), pp. 5-24. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Digital delivery of the Chicago Parent Program - ezParent

Implementation findings from an effectiveness-implementation trial of tablet-based parent training in pediatric primary care https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31621349

Engagement and Adherence with ezParent, an mHealth Parent-Training Program Promoting Child Well-Being https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28870112

A study protocol testing the implementation, efficacy, and cost effectiveness of the ezParent program in pediatric primary care https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5053093/

Parent Use and Efficacy of a Self-Administered, Tablet-Based Parent Training Intervention https://mhealth.jmir.org/2016/2/e36/

Developing the eCPP: Adapting an Evidence‐Based Parent Training Program for Digital Delivery in Primary Care Settings https://sigmapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/wvn.12074 (note: the program was initially coined eCPP and changed to ezParent in 2016)

Web-based delivery of a preventive parent training intervention: A feasibility study https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23607827

Chicago Parent Program Implementation and Fidelity

Financial Incentives for Promoting Participation in a School-Based Parenting Program in Low-Income Communities https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30645733

Evaluating Implementation Fidelity of a School-Based Parenting Program for Low-Income Families https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29996719

Cost-Effectiveness of Childcare Discounts on Parent Participation in Preventive Parent Training in Low-Income Communities http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3253623/

Measuring Implementation Fidelity in a Community-Based Parenting Intervention https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3421455/pdf/nihms391944.pdf

Cost-Effectiveness of the Chicago Parent Program