THE ALBA PROJECT.

PARENTING FOR HIGH RISK AND

VULNERABLE GROUPS

Parenting and Family Support Research Group

Glasgow Caledonian University
Professor Liz Gilchrist PI (liz.gilchrist@gcu.ac.uk)

The Alba Project

Multi agency project designed to implement and evaluate Triple P with
domestic abuse (DA) perpetrators. Scottish Gov. funding (201116)
Group and Pathways
Why Triple P with this group?

Aims
Increase +ve parenting skills for fathers who are DA perpetrators
Increase motivation to address their relationship skills
Decrease coercive abusive interactions with (ex)partner and child(ren)

Objectives (post intervention)

Improved parental regulation of negative emotions
Lower levels of DA
Less resistance to addressing DA
Reduced levels of re-offending

A quick detour to theory

Nested Ecological Model
Challenge assumptions, beliefs, attitudes, cultures around parenting.
e.g. White Ribbon Campaign
(4) Culture

(3) Subculture
- Enabling +ve
parenting

(2) Family
- Increased +ve interactions with
child(ren) and (ex)partner
(1) Triple P + CHANGE
Individual
Increased self-efficacy

Theory
What works and how generally
Desistance
Strengths based important: good lives
Individually tailored, well delivered interventions, targeted to specific
criminogenic needs (one size does not fit all)
Delivered by good facilitators, with good Therapeutic Alliance, group
cohesion, responsive to individuals styles and abilities
Desistance is more than programme response
People need consistent messages, support and interventions delivered
alongside, not in isolation from other life issues

Theory
DA Programmes, DA + Parenting
Small significant effect in DA programmes (+ small effect size) (but see also
www.dur.ac.uk/criva/projectmirabal)
Traditional models of parenting interventions not supported by evidence
Practice evidence shows children are a hook for change
Drive for this project was to capture that desire for the offender to be a
good parent and use that motivation to reduce offending

Strategic Position of Parenting

Interventions within CJS/SWS
Wider policy drivers of prevention/early intervention, early
years initiatives, health promotion
Citywide multi-agency parenting strategy
DA treatment programme established within the context of
multi-agency practice improvement DA Courts, etc
Cross-care group collaboration
Child Protection tensions and context

Operational/Practice Considerations
MOU & Safety
Set up between CJSW, Police Scotland, ASSIST, GCU, to manage safety
Safety of the women and children paramount and shaped model of
project/selection criteria
Opportunity for skill rehearsal a critical component
Participants screened via CJSW and ASSIST prior to being approached
Multi-agency safety reviews before, during and after each group

Project Setup
Training Practitioners (x5 Full days)

x12 Criminal Justice Social Workers

x3 ASSIST workers
x3 Glasgow East Womens Aid workers
x2 GCU staff (PI and researcher)

Key Learning Points (Tensions + Positives)

Big impact on time and workloads (affected projected timelines
Agencies which do not normally work together found benefit in doing so regarding own
service delivery: existing relationships cemented trust and partnership
Practitioners found that training enhanced their work simply by spending time together
Tensions : safety concerns for victims manipulation of programme

Clip 1 Victim safety and screening (ASSIST)

Pilot Study (Research Design 1)

RCT (n=60 control vs. n=60 intervention)
Target group: offenders on license for DA; children 3-12 yrs,
some contact.
Participants receive intervention (n=8 x2hour group sessions)
Assessments pre, post and 6 month follow-up for both control
and intervention group
Victims / (ex)partners / primary carers offered
Information on (ex) partners involvement (not specific progress)
Support (ASSIST, Glasgow East Womens Aid)
Self-directed Triple P

Operational Challenges

Implementing practice change: staff

Resourcing within statutory demands
Service user engagement:
The challenge of numbers: criteria, sequencing
The psychology of engagement self identification vs
the hook

Clip 2 challenges (ASSIST)

Pilot Results
Abusers
(M)

Advocates
(M)

Pre
(M)

Post
(M)

Wife beating justified

2.42

1.26

1.38

1.3

Wife gain from beatings

2.7

1.34

1.64

1.57

Help should be given

5.48

6.67

Offender is responsible

3.83

5.24

5.83
5.21

6.51
5.71

Offender should be
punished

3.2

4.25

5.73

5.9

Group Type

Pre to post change in participants moves them closer to the victim

advocates views related to IPV than abusers
Significant difference in beliefs about help for victim between the pre and
post conditions
Also, significant changes in parenting attributions and self-efficacy

Pilot Study Learning Points

Slow recruitment, small numbers, good retention, quality not
quantity?
Some attitudinal change on DA related measure
Shift in motivation to change, and self-efficacy
One participant further offended within those attending the parenting
group
Men liked intervention and appeared to gain from it in terms of belief in
ability to change and skills gained
TA key to recruitment and retention
Programme readiness important

Monitoring & Evaluating

Develop more nuanced measures of effectiveness
include qualitative interviews with men to begin to explore how
change takes place; with victims, children, and with practitioners;
draw on contemporary theory in analysis
Reflect and engage with challenges, use these to develop
findings that are useful to policy makers, funders and
programmes themselves.

Trial
Participants completed some DA change work prior
Voluntary + mandated
All participants receive intervention

Victims / (ex)partners / primary carers offered

Information on (ex) partners involvement (not specific progress)
Support (ASSIST, Glasgow East Womens Aid)
Self-directed Triple P

7 groups run citywide

26 participants successfully engaged

Trial (Research Design 2)

Longitudinal mixed methods
Logic Model

Quantitative
Participant psychometrics (pre, post, 6months FU) (reduced volume)
Case file reviews of participants
Police data (pre and post) + matched sample

Qualitative
Qualitative
Semi-structured interviews with participants
Semi-structured interviews with victims
Semi-structured interviews with men mandated but failed to attend
Focus group with practitioners
Interviews with managers (CJSW and ASSIST)
Case studies
Childrens data

Recurring Qualitative Themes

Perpetrators

Victims

1.

Want to be viewed as a good parent (by

self, others, and children)

1.

Things feel less chaotic at home

2.

Desire not to be like their own father

2.

Arguing less with (ex)partner and

children

3.

Poor parenting hard to acknowledge; but

felt supported; self reflection + guilt

3.

He (ex)partners being more respectful

to me

4.

Kids are better behaved

5.

Kids are happier

6.

Some (ex)partners stopped using tools

after a while

4.

5.

Learned techniques to understand +

manage bad behaviours (self and children)
Spending more time doing stuff with the
kids

6.

Things feel less chaotic at home

7.

I feel less stressed

Dads (Perpetrators)

Want to be viewed as a good parent (by self, others, and children)

Desire not to be like their own father

I was in denial that that was neglect, but see I've

learnt it
definitely is neglect see looking back at my
past I remember...hearing my
stepdad and my ma [fighting] it made me feel
terrible, aye scared, helpless, and that must be
how my son feels. So I related to it But see
trying to believe that you're neglecting
your wean in some way? Ohhh, so hard to
digest that!
(Triple P completer, Interview 3)

Dads (Perpetrators)

Usually I dont bother about other people's

point of view but regarding the kids aye
very important ... I dont want people going
he always shouts at they weans ... he does
this, and does that to they weans! I dont
want to be like that
(Triple P completer, Interview 10)

Dads (Perpetrators)

Poor parenting hard to acknowledge; but felt supported; self reflection + guilt

A learning experience for me it was definitely! I

knew I was at fault with my parenting in a lot of
aspects of it regarding my drug use, shouting and
bawling in front of the weans, just...insulting my
weans with'oot realising it! Like um...maybe
spilling a cup of juice or something and going "Are
you bloody stupid?" And...it's no' the right way to
go a'boot it do you know what I mean?
(Triple P completer, Interview 5)

(Qualitative findings)

Dads (Perpetrators)

I felt that I was'nae on my own because other people have made the
same mistakes, I felt that. No' right away in the group because it takes
time for people to open up. I wanted to better myself as a parent but a
lot of people as I said dont want to admit that they've done the wrong
things and it makes them look like a bad parent. But in reality admitting
that you've done it wrong is the way to go because then you can
improve rather than being well I'll just stick to the way I am, I'm alright!

(Triple P completer, Interview 7)

It opened my eyes to the way you

should be with your weans and the
way your relationship should be
a'roond a'boot your weans and
stuff like that. It made me feel
really guilty to tell you the truth!
(Triple P completer, Interview 6)

(Qualitative findings)

Dads (Perpetrators)
4.
5.

Learned techniques to understand + manage bad behaviours (self and children)

Spending more time with the kids

there was a section on automatic thoughts,

that to me was like gold when I read that!
That was something I'd suffered a long time in
my life things that we make up in our head
and base it on fact, you know? Like if you're
having an argument with your partner and
they say something your automatic thought is
that they're accusing you, or they're trying to
upset you I'd never heard of that before.
(Triple P completer, Interview 4)

If you're into that way of thinking that's

just what you would do just instinctively
but I've learnt you've got to change your
thought process, the way I would
approach that noo is like if the weans
scribbled all over the wall maybe she was
only trying to draw me a picture! She's no'
trying to vandalise the hoose, weans just
dont know that their brain's no' tuned
like that. You just change your way of
thinking like, it's no' a bad thing the
wean's doing, it's only a wean, she's
discovering...it's curious, a big white wall!
(Triple P completer, Interview 9)

(Qualitative findings)

Dads (Perpetrators)

Five minutes is no' much but just a wee bit of quality time
makes a difference to the weans, whether you're tired or no,
there was a lot through Triple P I learnt like...changing the
way you think when your kid does something bad like the
example was, what if your kid went into the fridge right and
pulled out a jug of milk, everywhere, the full jug of milk all
over the kitchen. My first reaction before Triple P I'd have
went in you're a stupid wee blah-blah-blah-beep-beep-beepblah-blah-blah! It's totally wrong but I was.
(Triple P completer, Interview 2)

(Qualitative findings)

Dads (Perpetrators)
6.
7.

Things feel less chaotic at home

I feel less stressed

A learning experience for me it was definitely! I knew I

was at fault with my parenting in a lot of aspects of it
regarding my drug use, shouting and bawling in front of
the weans, just...insulting my weans with'oot realising it!
Like um...maybe spilling a cup of juice or something and
going "Are you bloody stupid?" And...it's no' the right way
to go a'boot it do you know what I mean? I feel less
stressed now things are a bit calmer at in the hoose and
the things are getting a bit less chaotic.
(Triple P completer, Interview 10)

(Qualitative findings)

Victims
Clip 3 Successes (ASSIST)
Things feel less chaotic at home
Arguing less with (ex)partner and children
He (ex)partners being more respectful to me

Its kind of a blessing he went on it cos I

basically couldnae cope it was getting to the
point that hed tell them (kids) to do something
and theyd no do it, then Id tell them and
they're like no! So wed have a go at each
other, or hed give up and get angry and start
shouting at me instead since he went on
we've started working together better

I: Do you feel that there's any less conflict in your house?

P: Yes! Absolutely! Um...because we're talking more, hes
talking more, because we're understanding more and
recognising hang on a minute that's an automatic
thought ... And then you start learning what an automatic
thought is, how to recognise it, and how to just quickly
dismiss it before any damage has actually happened,
whether its to myself or to one of my children

(Interview 6)

(Interview 2)

1.
2.
3.

Victims
4. Kids are better behaved
5. Kids are happier
6. Some (ex)partners stopped using tools after a while

P. He's not always applying it, in fact he hardly ever applies it

um...he can just get a bit upset sometimes quick to anger, just to
shout
I. Did he did to begin with apply it?
P. Yeah! He doesn't always now um...he does belittle and name call
Kevin, stop being a pansy, a spazzy, you know. It upsets them
[kids].

(Interview 4)

(Qualitative findings)

Victims

(Interview 2)

Noo its like we know the rules, we

know when to say no, we know
when to say aye, and that's what
they (kids) need, they need routine,
boundaries and they need...me and
him to be on the same team because
if me and him are'nae on the same
team then were upset and they
(kids) get upset and its just a
nightmare for everyone.

They're a lot happier from the fact that

they're not upset and running out in the
close [saying] whys my dad out there
and you're in here? Or why are you
not speaking to my dad? So they're
happier looking at us, and we'll have a
laugh and a joke now. Whereas we
didnt speak before, and it was rubbing
off on them, theyre much happier in
themselves.

(Interview 8)

(Qualitative findings)

Practitioners
Main Positives?
1.
2.
3.
4.

Strong belief that the programme worked for clients who engaged
Increased multi-agency working improved service delivery
Enhanced the quality of their work with client
Enjoyed doing Triple P

Main Challenges?
1.
2.
3.
4.

Not enough time on top of workloads

Recruitment slow, time consuming, disheartening
Small no. of practitioners did majority of recruitment and delivery
Struggled running groups of <5

Practitioners
Whats most Important?
Whats most important?
1.
Parenting should be core
2.
Programme content
3.
Sufficient work relief
4.
Programme readiness / time to prepare clients
5.
Therapeutic alliance
6.
Right group size n=5-6 participants ideal, but for some 1-1?

Clip 4 Challenges (ASSIST)

Operational Learning
Resourcing is critical trained staff, time, managerial
time
Existing collaborative multi-agency relationships
Choose the practitioner leaders carefully
Mandating helps, supported engagement critical
Capturing clients at right time
Interventions well received by those who engaged
Positive multi-agency collaboration
Belief that parenting work should be core to work remit
Monitoring and evaluation getting it right
Quality not quantity

Summary
It takes more than a research evidence base and a good methodology
to make an intervention work
CJSW:
We believe parenting interventions should be part of everyone's
remit i.e. early intervention, public health, criminal justice.
Secure, ring fenced, funding critical
Longitudinal mixed methods research design optimal
Children's data important
Transferring the learning CP opportunities

THANK YOU!