Distance Learning System for Parent-Child Assessment

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): 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.