Masters Thesis

ACT against violence: a multi-site evaluation of the Parents Raising Safe Kids Program

Parents Raising Safe Kids (PRSK) is an empirically research-based, national violence prevention created by the American Psychological Association (APA) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), with the goals of reducing violence in families with children ages 0-8 and making violence prevention visible within the community. The PRSK curriculum is comprised of four modules: anger management, social problem-solving, positive discipline, and media violence literacy that, through the use of videos, role playing, group discussions, homework, and hands-on activities, serve to teach caregivers non-violent strategies for parenting as well as increase their child development knowledge. The current study is a formative and summative evaluation of the PRSK program. In the span of one calendar year, participants located at nine sites within the United States, including incarcerated caregivers, teen parents, and court mandated caregivers, participated in the free, eight-week violence prevention program. Results of the current study suggest PRSK is an effective parenting program. Participants significantly increased their violence prevention knowledge for all four modules, with small to medium effects. Spanish speakers significantly outperformed English speakers, both in terms of more knowledge gained from the PRSK program and higher retention rates. These results will be used to inform stakeholders at the APA of the program's effectiveness at reaching its goals, namely reducing violence within the home. Additionally, this study will make recommendations regarding the implementation of the PRSK program, specifically which components are most effective and what elements need improvement. Finally, this study will make recommendations regarding PRSK's evaluation tools, which until now have yet to be analyzed psychometrically. This current research is also a stride in support PRSK to become an evidence-based practice. The results from this study suggest that PRSK is an affordable, flexible, effective program that can reduce coercive parenting behavior while increasing positive parenting techniques and child development knowledge. More research is needed regarding certain at-risk groups that were acutely explored in this study, specifically incarcerated parents and adolescent caregivers.

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