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. 2013 Oct 1;62(4):10.1111/fare.12029.
doi: 10.1111/fare.12029.

Strengthening Incarcerated Families: Evaluating a Pilot Program for Children of Incarcerated Parents and Their Caregivers

Alison L Miller  1 , Jamie Perryman  2 , Lara Markovitz  3 , Susan Franzen  2 , Shirley Cochran  4 , Shavonnea Brown  2
Affiliations

Strengthening Incarcerated Families: Evaluating a Pilot Program for Children of Incarcerated Parents and Their Caregivers

Alison L Miller et al. Fam Relat. .

Abstract

Parental incarceration can be devastating for families. Children may experience difficulties, and the stress on caregivers who take on unexpected childrearing is high. We implemented and evaluated a family-level intervention with caregivers and children experiencing parental (typically maternal) incarceration, in a community setting. We partnered with a community-based organization serving families with an incarcerated parent to conduct a pilot trial of the Strengthening Families Program (SFP). Process evaluation indicated high implementation fidelity, satisfaction, engagement, and attendance. Outcome evaluation results indicated positive changes in family-level functioning, caregivers' positive parenting, and caregiver depression symptoms from pre- to post-intervention, with some changes retained at follow-up 4 months later. Implications for preventive interventions with children of incarcerated parents, and their caregivers, are discussed.

Keywords: Caregivers and children of incarcerated parents; Strengthening Families Program; community-based intervention.

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