Evaluating Effects of Boys Town Common Sense Parenting Program on Parent and Child Executive Function

• In Event: Evaluating Preschool and School-Age Interventions That Promote Self-Regulation and Executive Function Skills in Children

Abstract

Boys Town Common Sense Parenting (CSP) is a widely disseminated parent training program, annually serving more than 1,500 families and children at Boys Town sites across the United States. The goal of Boys Town CSP is to teach positive parenting skills that encourage positive behavior in children to parents of the school-age children ages 6-16. Boys Town CSP teaches parents these skills in a series of six weekly, 2-hour virtual sessions, each of which includes five key training components – instruction, modeling, practice, feedback, and review. These training components provide groups of 10 to 12 parents an opportunity to learn and use the parenting skills and increase the likelihood that parents will use the skills with their children.

Boys Town CSP sessions address key parenting behaviors such as, for example: 1) Discipline through positive teaching; 2) Setting reasonable expectations and giving clear messages; 3) Using consequences to change behaviors; 4) Using reasons to encourage improvement; 5) Encouraging good behaviors and preventing problems; 6) Teaching self-control. While Boys Town CSP focuses on key parenting skills that have been previously associated with improvements in child executive function (EF) in other studies (e.g., positive control; Valcan et al., 2018; Karreman et al., 2015), the direct effects of Boys Town CSP on parent and child EF have not yet been evaluated, leaving critical gaps in knowledge on identifying the modifiable mechanisms by which program effects are realized.

The aim of this pilot study is to examine if participation in Boys Town CSP contributes to fewer child behavior problems by improving EF in parents and children. EF is defined as a set of higher-order cognitive processes that are imperative for reducing child behavior problems (Diamond, 2013). From perspectives of attachment theory better regulated parents facilitate child capacity for improving EF by initially acting as external regulators (Bernier et al., 2010). We hypothesized that Boys Town CSP contributes to fewer child behavior problems by improving EF in parents and children (Figure 1).

In this on-going study, participants are recruited from parents of school-age children enrolled into Boys Town CSP classes. Participants are approached by the in-class announcements and compensated for their participation by $15 Amazon e-gift card per survey. Parents who consent to participate in this study fill out surveys on parent and child deficits in EF (Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale for adult/child), and child behavior problems (Pediatric Symptoms Checklist) pre-, post-, and 30 days after completing CSP training.

During the pilot launch of this research study in summer 2022, data has been collected from 23 parents of school-age children that were enrolled into Boys Town CSP. Our preliminary examination revealed a slight decline in EF deficits in parents at post- and 30 days after completing CSP, and a slight decline in EF deficits in children post-CSP (see Figure 2).
We anticipate approaching approximately 40 more CSP classes that will be offered at Boys Town sites in Fall 2022 and planning to present our completed analyses at the SRCD biannual conference in March 2023.

Authors

• Irina Patwardhan, Boys Town National Research Hospital
  Presenting Author

• Ashlee Mitchell

• Mary Beth Chmelka

• Bridgit Barnes, Boys Town

• Patrick Tyler, Boys Town National Research Institute