Mitigating ACEs in Pediatric Primary Care: Cohort #2 With 6-24 Month Old Children

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The aim is to determine if a brief intervention can affect parents' attitudes about physical punishment and other parenting behaviors.

Detailed Description
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A public health problem that needs to be solved is how to educate more parents about healthy discipline options. The investigators aim to mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) by integrating evidence-based parent training into pediatric primary care. Some of the most modifiable ACEs are associated with parenting behaviors that can lead to child abuse. The investigators define unhealthy parenting behaviors such as spanking, threatening, yelling, and humiliation. For adults in the original ACEs study, it was exposure to these behaviors that led to the categorization of child abuse/neglect and that were associated with heart disease, obesity, depression, smoking, drug use, violence, and many other problems. This study may help change policy and practice related to mitigating ACEs in primary care. To accomplish this goal, randomized controlled trials are needed to test brief screening tools and evidence-based resources. A population-based approach is needed to reach all parents (i.e. primary prevention). In the study, parents in the intervention group will receive 3 minutes of education about healthy discipline strategies.

Official Title
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Mitigating ACEs in Pediatric Primary Care: Cohort #2 With 6-24 Month Old Children

Conditions
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Parenting, Violence, Child Abuse

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Discipline education
* Behavioral: Cavity Prevention


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Parents of 6 month to 2 year old children presenting to the Vanderbilt Pediatric Primary Care Clinic for a well visit or an acute care visit. Exclusion Criteria: Parents who do not speak and read English, Spanish, or Arabic. The interventions are only available in English, Spanish, and Arabic.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 6 Months
Maximum Age: 2 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: Randomized controlled trial
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Discipline education<br>Education about discipline using the Play Nicely program (www.playnicely.org). | Behavioral: Discipline education<br>* Discipline education using the Play Nicely program.<br>|
| Placebo Comparator: Cavity prevention<br>Education about cavity prevention using a 2 page handout. | Behavioral: Cavity Prevention<br>* Cavity prevention using a 2 page handout.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Attitudes toward spanking | A 10 item scale that assesses parents' attitudes about corporal punishment. The minimum value is 10 and the maximum value is 70. Higher scores indicate a higher likelihood of using spanking. | 3-6 months post-enrollment. |