Research group to look at preventing child abuse

Prof. Matthew Sanders.

The researcher behind a prominent American study which reduced child abuse rates in nine South Carolina counties is to set up a research group at The University of Auckland’s Faculty of Education.

Prof. Matthew Sanders, originally from Auckland, is both an adjunct Prof. of Parenting Studies and Family Psychology at The University of Auckland’s Faculty of Education, and the director of the Parenting and Family Support Centre at the University of Queensland.

He was co-investigator of a five-year study in South Carolina which found lower rates of confirmed abuse cases, child out-of-home placements, and child injuries in communities where the Triple-P Program was implemented. Its key finding was an estimated 688 fewer cases of child maltreatment for every 100,000 children aged under-eight in communities where Triple-P was made available.

“It is the first large-scale study to show that by providing all families, not just families in crisis, with access to proven parenting information and support, rates of child maltreatment in whole communities can be reduced,” Prof. Sanders says.

The Triple-P Program offers strategies for parents struggling with problems such as tantrums, sleeping and bullying, helping families to overcome them before they escalate. Advice is made available through the media, public seminars and through consultations by specially trained providers, such as social workers and nurses.

“Raising children is the greatest challenge we face in a lifetime and it is a job most tackle with little preparation for the role. The simplest way to reduce parental distress and behavioural problems in children is to give parents better information and support,” Prof. Sanders says.

Prof. Sanders is the head of the new Triple P Research Group at Auckland’s Faculty of Education. The group plans to launch a web-based trial of the Triple-P Program in NZ to strengthen evidence for parenting programmes within the NZ context.

“I believe there could be a similarly positive impact on preventing child abuse if the same exercise was conducted in NZ,” Prof. Sanders says.

The US study, titled Population-Based Prevention of Child Maltreatment: The U.S. Triple P System Population Trial was funded by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the US Department of Health and Human Services.