SBIR-STTR Award

The goal of this proposal is to develop and assess the feasibility of an internet adaptation (eNBP) of the New Beginnings Program (NBP), an evidence-based program to promote effective parenting following divorce. The NBP is a 10-week small-group program that has been shown in two randomized trials to significantly reduce a wide range of youths' problems in the 15-year period after parents participated. Program benefits included reductions in substance use, substance use disorders, high risk sexual behavior, externalizing problems, and internalizing problems and disorders (Major Depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) as well as improvements in grades and self-esteem (Wolchik, et al., 2000; 2007; 2002; 2013). However, there are many barriers to parents accessing group-based parenting programs, so that relatively few parents actually use such programs. The development of an internet adaptation of the NBP will provide an economical version of the program that can be readily accessed by the parents of 1.5 million children who experience parental divorce each year In the U.S. The eNBP has the potential to have a significant public health impact to reduce the negative outcomes of children whose parents divorce. Compelling evidence demonstrates that divorce confers increased risk for multiple problems across the lifespan, including substance use problems and disorders, mental health problems, high-risk sexual behavior, and physical health problems (Barrett and Turner, 2006; Paxton, Valois, and Drane, 2007; Afifi and McManus, 2010; Amato, 2001; Hetherington, 1999; McLanahan, 1999; Troxel and Matthews, 2004). The eNBP will have a competitive advantage over other internet parenting programs for divorced families because it is based on a program that has been demonstrated to have long- term effects to improve parenting and reduce youths' substance use and mental health problems. The program will be successful in the market place because it incorporates methods that have been found to be effective to engage participants in programs to promote healthy behavior and to improve mental health problems. There are three specific aims of this Phase I SBIR project: 1. Create the eNBP components that introduce and motivate parents to engage in eNBP, teach the NBP skill of Family Fun Time (FFT) and review home practice of FFT; and develop additional content for mobile devices (e.g., smart phone, tablet) to reinforce FFT concepts and establish an internet community. 2. Beta-test the components developed in Aim 1 and redesign them based on feedback. 3. Pilot test the components revised in Aim 2 to assess acceptability and feasibility.

Public Health Relevance Statement:


Public Health Relevance:
Parental divorce is experienced by 1.5 million children in the U.S. per year and its public health burden on substance abuse and mental health problems is significant. A critical challenge in decreasing the public health burden of parental divorce is how to deliver effective prevention programs in a manner that is inexpensive, highly accessible, and minimizes logistical barriers to use. The goal of this proposal is to develop and assess the feasibility of an internet adaptation of the New Beginnings Program, a parenting-focused program that has been tested in two randomized trials and shown to significantly improve parenting and reduce a wide range of youths' problems in the 15-year period after parents participated.

NIH Spending Category:
Behavioral and Social Science; Brain Disorders; Clinical Research; Mental Health; Pediatric; Prevention; Substance Abuse

Project Terms:
Accounting; Address; adolescent drug abuse; adolescent substance use; Age; Alcohol or Other Drugs use; base; Behavior; Businesses; Cellular Phone; Child; Child Rearing; Communities; Conflict (Psychology); cost; court; Data; Development; Discipline; Divorce; E-learning; Educational process of instructing; ethnic minority population; Evaluation; Evidence based intervention; Evidence based program; experience; Exposure to; Family; Family Practice; Fathers; Feedback; Fees; Focus Groups; Goals; handheld mobile device; high risk sexual behavior; Home environment; improved; Internet; Interview; Long-Term Effects; Longevity; Major Depressive Disorder; Marketing; Mental disorders; Mental Health; Methods; Modeling; Mothers; Motivation; Outcome; Parent-Child Relations; Parents; Participant; Phase; physical conditioning; Population; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders; prevent; Prevention program; programs; Provider; public health medicine (field); public health relevance; randomized trial; Research; Research Infrastructure; Risk; Schedule; self esteem; skills; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; Substance abuse problem; Substance Use Disorder; Surveys; Tablets; Techniques; Telephone; Testing; Time; Training; Transportation; web site; Work; Youth

The proposed research builds on a successful Phase I SBIR grant to develop and test a web-based version of a parenting-after-divorce group intervention, the New Beginnings Program, which has been shown in two randomized trials to reduce youths’ problem behaviors and enhance their developmental competencies in the 15-year period after their parents participated. The proposed web-based format will increase the reach and consequently the public health impact of this evidence-based intervention. A commercialization plan is described to show how this program will be widely adopted and commercially successful.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
PROJECT NARRATIVE Evidence-based, group parenting skills interventions have been shown to promote healthy child development. Unfortunately, the public health potential of these interventions is severely limited by low parent participation rates that have resulted from barriers and accessibility constraints imposed by the group format. The goal of this application is to develop and test the efficacy of an electronic adaptation (eNBP) of the New Beginnings Program (NBP), a group-based parenting-after-divorce program that has been shown in two randomized trials to significantly enhance developmental competencies and reduce a wide range of youths’ problem behaviors in the 15-year period after their parents participated. Program benefits included improvements in grades and self- esteem, as well as reductions in substance use, mental health problems and high risk sexual behavior. Mediational analyses showed that program benefits were accounted for by improvements in the quality of post- divorce parenting (warmth, communication, discipline). The development of eNBP will provide an economical and highly accessible version of the NBP. The application builds on a successful Phase I SBIR that developed and pilot-tested a prototype of a web-based version of the first session of the NBP. Results from the pilot showed that the eNBP was highly acceptable to divorced parents and professional stakeholders. Importantly, there was a high rate of program completion, and parents who did the eNBP reported successfully using the skill that was taught. The current application will adapt all 10 sessions of the NBP into a web-based program. A randomized trial with 360 parents will test the efficacy of the web-based program as compared with a popular web-site for divorced parents by comparing effects on quality of parenting, interparental conflict and children’s social competence and problem behaviors at post-test and six months follow-up. Other web-based programs for divorcing parents focus primarily on strengthening co-parenting and reducing interparental conflict. The proposed web-based adaptation of the NBP is distinguished from existing programs by its focus on the quality of post-divorce parenting. The randomized trial of eNBP will be the first to examine the effects of a web-based program for divorced parents to strengthen the quality of post-divorce parenting and promote children’s socioemotional development and reduce their mental health problems. A commercialization plan describes how the program will be commercially successful.

Project Terms:
15 year old; 18 year old; active control; Active Listening; Adolescent; Adopted; Age; Alcohol or Other Drugs use; Attitude; base; Behavior; Child; Child Development; Child Rearing; commercialization; Communication; Competence; Conflict (Psychology); coping; cost; court; Criminal Justice; Data; Development; Discipline; Disease; Divorce; Educational process of instructing; effectiveness trial; efficacy testing; Employee Assistance Program (Health Care); Evaluation; evidence base; Evidence based intervention; experience; Exposure to; Family; Fathers; Feedback; follow-up; Follow-Up Studies; Foundations; Goals; Grant; group intervention; high risk sexual behavior; Home environment; innovation; Internet; Intervention; Mediating; Mediation; Mental Health; Mental Health Services; Methods; Mothers; Online Systems; Outcome; Parents; Performance; Phase; physical conditioning; Problem behavior; programs; prototype; Provider; Public Health; Publishing; Randomized; Randomized Controlled Trials; randomized trial; reduced substance use; Reporting; Research; Research Infrastructure; Risk; Schedule; self esteem; Services; simulation; skills; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; Social Development; Social Problems; social skills; Solid; stressor; Substance Use Disorder; Supervision; System; Testing; theories; Time; Training; Transportation; usability; web site; Work; Youth