Blueprints for Violence Prevention >> Promising Programs >> Triple P: Community-Wide

Triple P-Positive Parenting Program

BPP10
 2009
PDF Version of Fact Sheet
Contact Triple P

Program Overview:
The Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) is a comprehensive, community-wide system of parenting and family support. The five intervention levels were designed to enhance parental competence and prevent or alter dysfunctional parenting practices, thereby reducing an important set of family risk factors both for child maltreatment and for children’s behavioral and emotional problems. At the population level, the existing workforce crossing several disciplines and settings (such as family and social support services, preschool and childcare settings, elementary schools and other community entities with direct contact with families) is trained to deliver the Triple P system of interventions. This workforce is then responsible for delivering the program to parents.

Program Targets:
The community-wide version of Triple P targets parents with children younger than eight years of age, and the intervention is delivered community-wide through multiple providers.

Program Content:
The multilevel system includes five intervention levels of increasing intensity and narrowing population reach:
Universal Triple P (Level 1) uses media and informational strategies that:

  • destigmatize parenting and family support
  • make effective parenting strategies available to all parents
  • facilitate help seeking and self-regulation
Selected Triple P (Level 2) normalizes parenting interventions through:
  • brief and flexible consultation with individual parents
  • parenting seminars with large groups of parents
Primary Care Triple P (Level 3) manages discrete child behavior problems through:
  • four brief consultations that incorporate active skills training
  • selective use of parenting tip sheets on common problems of young children
  • generalization enhancement strategies to apply skills to other areas
Standard and Group Triple P (Level 4) benefits indicated populations of children with detectable problems by:
  • teaching parents a variety of child management skills
  • combining provision of information with active skills training and support
  • teaching parents to apply skills to a broad range of target behaviors in numerous settings

Enhanced Triple P (Level 5) is directed at families with additional risk factors and includes:
  • optional modules on partner communication, mood management and parent coping skills
  • additional practice sessions addressing parent-child issues

Program Outcomes:
Compared to control counties, positive effects in the Triple P System counties were seen for rates of:

  • substantiated child maltreatment
  • child out-of-home placements
  • hospitalizations or emergency-room visits for child maltreatment injuries

Note:
Only Triple P, when implemented as a total system in a community, is being certified by Blueprints. Evaluations of individual levels of Triple P implemented alone, such as the Level 4 Standard, Group, or Self-Directed formats, have not met Blueprints criteria.

References

Prinz, R.J., Sanders, M.R., Shapiro, C.J., Whitaker, D.J., and Lutzker, J.R. (2009). Population-Based Prevention of Child Maltreatment: The U.S. Triple P System Population Trial. Prevention Science, 10, 1-12.

Contact Triple P

Triple P: Positive Parenting Program
For information in the United States, contact:
Triple P America
1205 Lincoln Street, Columbia, SC 29201
PO Box 12755, Columbia, SC 29211
Phone: (803) 451-2278
Fax: (803) 451-2277
Email: contact.us@triplep.net
Website: http://www.triplep.net/
Parenting and Family Support Center
School of Psychology
The University of Queensland
Brisbane QLD, 4072 AUSTRALIA
Phone: +61 (7) 3365 7290
Email: info@triplep.net
Website: http://www.pfsc.uq.edu.au/