Een beter vervolg: Implementatieonderzoek naar Betere Start, opvoedingsondersteuning voor (ex-)gedetineerde moeders

Children of (formerly) incarcerated mothers are one of the most at-risk populations for the development of behavior problems and delinquent behavior patterns. Better Start is a parenting intervention for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated mothers that aims to prevent behavior problems and delinquent behavior in their 2-to-10-year old children. Better Start has already been proven effective regarding maternal parenting behaviors children’s behavior problems, and children’s and mother’s later delinquent behaviors, in a previous RCT and long-term follow-up. In the current study, we examined the broad implementation of this intervention during a period of five years. The sample consisted of 122 mothers with 186 children (Mage = 6.45 years, 51.61 % girls) from 10 intervention groups. Routine outcome measure data on the received intervention, behavior problems, parenting behaviors, cognitive distortions and satisfaction with the intervention were collected. The results show that it is possible to reach this hard-to-reach population and deliver the intervention satisfactorily in daily practice, resulting in the expected changes in behavior problems, parenting behaviors and cognitive distortions. This study therefore indicates that the intervention Better Start is feasible in daily practice. The importance of thorough implementation and monitoring of intervention quality for beneficial results in vulnerable families is discussed.