ArticleBMJ open2016
Effects of universally offered parenting interventions for parents with infants: a systematic review.
Article in BMJ open, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 4 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Facilitators and barriers to the sustainability of universally accessible parental training interventions: a systematic qualitative review using normalization process theory.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Pooled it
- Universal, selective and indicated parenting interventions to prevent the development of adverse mental health outcomes in youth: a meta-review of systematic reviews.BMJ mental health · 2025Pooled it
- Interventions from pregnancy to two years after birth for parents experiencing complex post-traumatic stress disorder and/or with childhood experience of maltreatment.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of parenting interventions for at-risk parents with infants: a systematic review and meta-analyses.BMJ open · 2017Pooled it
- The Incredible Years Parents and Babies Program: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.PloS one · 2016Trial
- The Baby Triple P online positive parenting programme for mothers accessing community perinatal mental health care (the OPAL study): a feasibility study protocol.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Mellow Babies: A Randomised Feasibility Trial of an Intervention to Improve the Quality of Parent-Infant Interactions and Parental Mental Wellbeing.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- A cost-effectiveness analysis of a universal, preventative-focused, parent and infant programme.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Article
- Parents' perspectives on preparing for parenthood: a qualitative study on Greenland's universal parenting programme MANU 0-1 year.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2022Article
- Understanding Your Baby: protocol for a controlled parallel group study of a universal home-based educational program for first time parents.BMC psychology · 2022Article
- An early intervention to promote maternal sensitivity in the perinatal period for women with psychosocial vulnerabilities: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial.BMC psychology · 2020Article
- Effects of parenting interventions for mothers with depressive symptoms and an infant: systematic review and meta-analysis.BJPsych open · 2020Article
- One-year follow-up of The Incredible Years Parents and Babies Program: A pilot randomized controlled trial.Scandinavian journal of child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesFrom a developmental perspective, infancy is a critical stage of life. Early childhood interventions aim to support caretakers, but the effects of universal interventions for parents with infants are unknown. The objective is to determine the effects of universal parenting interventions offered to parents with infants 0-12 months on measures of child development and parent-child relationship.
designA systematic review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis. We extracted publications from 10 databases in June 2013, January 2015 and June 2016 and supplemented with grey and hand search. Risk of bias was assessed, and effect sizes were calculated.
participantsInclusion criteria are: (1) randomised controlled trials of structured, psychosocial interventions offered to a universal population of parents with infants 0-12 months old in western OECD countries, (2) interventions that include a minimum of 3 sessions with at least half of the sessions delivered postnatally and (3) programme outcomes reported for child development or parent-child relationship.
results14 papers representing 7 studies are included. There were no statistically significant effects of the intervention for the majority of the primary outcomes across the studies.
conclusionsThe findings of this review are mixed. No clear conclusions can be drawn regarding the effects of universally offered parenting interventions on child development and parent-child relationship for this age group.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.