Supporting parenting during early childhood with the Family Check-Up Online: A randomized clinical trial

Abstract

Online parenting interventions can reduce barriers to receiving support for parenting during early childhood. As parents with mental health challenges are at greater risk of experiencing such barriers, increasing access to novel supports for child behavior and parenting is critically important for promoting health equity for parents and their young children. The current study tested the effects of an online parenting intervention, the Family Check-Up Online (FCU-O), on parenting skills, self-efficacy, and parent stress at 12-month follow-up, and whether improvements to parenting self-efficacy (PSE) explained intervention effects on parenting skills. The FCU-O is a mobile web-based parenting support app that includes telehealth coaching support. Participants were 356 parents of toddler to preschool-age children who endorsed either depressive symptoms or current or past substance misuse at baseline. Parents, who were predominantly White and non-Hispanic (72%), and female (93%), were randomized to the FCU-O or a waitlist control. The FCU-O was associated with significant improvements to PSE and parenting skills including positive behavior support, limit-setting, and proative parenting. Additionally, improvements to PSE partially mediated direct effects of the FCU-O on positive behavior support, limit-setting, proactive parenting, and parent stress. Our findings have implications for the utility of online parenting interventions for underserved families and support the importance of promoting PSE to maximize intervention benefits. Clinical Trial Registration: NCT05180487