Theory-based multimodal parenting intervention for incarcerated parents and their children

Abstract

Parenting programs for incarcerated parents have become increasingly popular within corrections departments over the past several decades. The programs are appealing as they are thought to improve not only long-term prosocial outcomes and reductions in recidivism for parents who are reentering their communities after lockup, but also outcomes for their children. While some parenting programs have been shown to be effective in various ways, they may be insufficient to produce long-lasting, positive impacts for families with loved ones involved in the criminal justice system. We proposed that an expanded definition of what a parenting program is might be useful-a "multimodal" parenting program. Such programs address not only the development of parenting knowledge and the practice of parenting skills, but also the numerous contextual challenges that many correction-involved parents face during and following incarceration. Some of these challenges include inadequate housing, parent unemployment, parental mental and physical health issues, and conflictual personal relationships. We overview our work to build a multimodal parenting program for incarcerated parents and their families, and discuss the implication of such for future research, practice, and policy.