SBIR-STTR Award

Imagine a world in which all children trust adults, are nurtured, explore their worlds safely, without violence. We can create this world by giving child/family service providers the tools they need to assess parenting and intervene to develop high quality parenting that promotes healthy child. development, and ultimately, societal well-being. This project will compare an interactive learner-driven distance learning system to traditional training for a proven parent-child interaction scale in order to take parent-child assessment from the laboratory and place it competently in the hands of thousands of service providers. Specific Aims for Phase 1: * Develop a distance learning multimedia prototype for a proven parent-child interaction scale to be delivered via CD-ROM and Internet; * Conduct a pilot study to compare distance learning to traditional training on scoring competency, provider satisfaction, and cost- efficiency; * Define design specifications for distance learning tools that provide ongoing support and consultation for parent-child assessment. Distance learning provides flexible means to customize training through up-to-date content, search features for just enough--just in time information, competency certification, and support that can be accessed at providers' convenience. This project will make effective, cost- efficient training and support for parent-child assessment accessible to providers in education, childcare, health, and social services in order to promote effective parenting and child development. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: There is high demand or an effective, cost-effective training system for parent-child interaction assessment that is accessible anytime, anyplace for a potential market of 1.5 million human service providers. Although products are available for assessment training in other areas of child development, this system will provide the missing link that will raise the overall quality of child and family assessment and intervention. Once developed, it maybe used as a platform to host other assessment training.

This project will provide both a valuable new assessment instrument and an online professional development system for those who serve families with children in their formative years. Even though, quality parenting/caregiving is recognized as key to a child's healthy development, no assessment instrument is routinely used. With an instrument to assess caregiving behaviors, providers can make informed interventions and monitor improvement. To make the instrument widely available we will develop an online learning system that trains providers to competently use the instrument. We will leverage this technology and access to providers to develop a range of online professional development programs that are convenient and low cost. The specific aims of this project are to: 1) Develop and validate a practical caregiver-child interaction assessment tool; 2) Develop and test an online training program for the assessment tool; and 3) Deploy the technology platform to deliver other high value trainings to child/family service programs. An existing research scale will be adapted for clinical use, and inter-rater reliability, internal consistency and validity tested. A longitudinal study assessing parenting outcomes with the clinically relevant tool will be conducted. Two methods of scoring the tool and the accuracy of paraprofessionals and professionals in the field will be tested. To make the tool clinically useful and readily accessible, the training for the tool will be made available online. The interactive training system will contain a searchable video library of caregiver examples with commentary from an expert. Furthermore, the impact of training and using the tool on provider practice will be studied. Many in the field are eager to have the interaction assessment instrument and online training. Using the online learning technology developed in this project, existing didactic trainings currently offered within partnering organizations will be converted to online learning and tested for their efficacy and learner satisfaction. When complete, providers who serve families with children in their formative years will be empowered with a new tool to support effective parenting/caregiving and have a rich online resource to support their continuing professional development.

Thesaurus Terms:
DVD /CD ROM, child rearing, computer assisted instruction, computer program /software, educational resource design /development, interactive multimedia, parent offspring interaction, telemetry Internet, caregiver, family, parent behavioral /social science research tag, clinical research, human subject