SynthesisBMC public health2015
A gloomy picture: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials reveals disappointing effectiveness of programs aiming at preventing child maltreatment.
Synthesis in BMC public health, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04163367 (Can Children be Protected Against Violence and Violations From Parents? A Randomized Controlled Study of Safer Kids), which is not on this map. Cited by 55 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Can Children be Protected Against Violence and Violations From Parents? A Randomized Controlled Study of Safer Kids: A Manualized Intervention to Prevent Child Abuse
Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 184 citations in OpenAlex.
- Unpacking Parenting Intervention Content for Child Maltreatment: A Systematic Review Examining Core Components.Trauma, violence & abuse · 2026Pooled it
- The Effectiveness of Trauma-Informed Parenting Programs for Traumatized Parents and Their Components: A Meta-Analytic Study.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2024Pooled it
- Emotional Dysregulation in Children and Adolescents With Psychiatric Disorders. A Narrative Review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Annual Research Review: Umbrella synthesis of meta-analyses on child maltreatment antecedents and interventions: differential susceptibility perspective on risk and resilience.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2020Pooled it
- Long-term outcomes of childhood sexual abuse: an umbrella review.The lancet. Psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- The Effectiveness of Parent Training Programs for Child Maltreatment and Their Components: A Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Identifying Effective Components of Child Maltreatment Interventions: A Meta-analysis.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2018Pooled it
- Parenting Programs for the Prevention of Child Physical Abuse Recurrence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2017Pooled it
- Effects of parent-child interaction therapy dosage on child and parent outcomes: differentiating child-directed interaction and parent-directed interaction session impacts in child welfare-involved families.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Trial
- Randomized trial of parent-child interaction therapy improves child-welfare parents' behavior, self-regulation, and self-perceptions.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2024Trial
- PCIT engagement and persistence among child welfare-involved families: Associations with harsh parenting, physiological reactivity, and social cognitive processes at intake.Development and psychopathology · 2022Trial
- Neural bias to social feedback moderates link between childhood abuse and subsequent harsh parenting.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2026Article
- MERTILChildren (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The transgenerational cycle of adverse childhood experiences: transmission and familial factors for intervention - first results of an 18-year German longitudinal study.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Expectant Mothers' Reflections on Childhood and Parenting: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Consensus statement on developmentally appropriate policy and practice for adolescents in foster care.Children and youth services review · 2025Article
- Mediational effect analysis of childhood emotional abuse on prodromal psychotic symptoms in self-taught examination students.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Infant Parent Support (IPS): a multidisciplinary intervention to improve the mental health of children with a social worker - a study protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial with embedded process evaluation.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2025Article
- Results from a randomized controlled pilot trial of a home-visiting intervention to reduce child maltreatment.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2025Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundConsistent findings about the effectiveness of parent programs to prevent or reduce child maltreatment are lacking.
methodsIn the present meta-analysis we synthesized findings from 27 independent samples from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the effectiveness of 20 different intervention programs aimed at (i) preventing the occurrence of child maltreatment in the general population or with at-risk but non-maltreating families, or (ii) reducing the incidence of child maltreatment in maltreating families.
resultsA significant combined effect on maltreatment (d = 0.13; N = 4883) disappeared after the trim-and-fill approach that takes into account publication bias against smaller studies without significant outcomes. However, moderator analyses showed that larger effect sizes were found for more recent studies, studies with smaller samples, programs that provide parent training instead of only support, programs that target maltreating instead of at-risk families, and programs with a moderate length (6-12 months) or a moderate number of sessions (16-30).
conclusionsMore RCTs are needed to further unravel which factors are associated with program effectiveness. Because currently existing programs appeared to only reduce and not prevent child maltreatment, efforts in the field of preventive intervention should also focus on the development and testing of preventive programs for families at risk for child maltreatment.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.