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Kids Club & Moms Empowerment

Scientific Rating:
3
Promising Research Evidence
See scale of 1-5
Child Welfare Relevance Level:
Medium

See descriptions of 3 levels

Brief Description

The information in this program outline is provided by the program representative and edited by the CEBC staff. The Kids Club & Moms Empowerment program has been rated by the CEBC in the area of: Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence: Services for Women and their Children.

  • Type of Maltreatment: Exposure to Domestic Violence
  • Target Population: Children ages 6-12 and their mothers exposed to intimate partner violence in the last year. Children may also have been abused.

The Kids’ Club & Moms Empowerment are two programs designed to coincide with each other and are most effective when both the mother and child participate in the intervention. Kids Club is a preventive intervention program that targets children's knowledge about family violence; their attitudes and beliefs about families and family violence; their emotional adjustment; and their social behavior in the small group. The program is phase-based, such that early sessions are designed to enhance the child’s sense of safety, to develop the therapeutic alliance, and to create a common vocabulary of emotions for making sense of violence experiences. Later sessions address responsibility for violence, managing emotions, family relationship paradigms, and conflict and its resolution. Activities rely on displacement and group lessons are reviewed and repeated, as needed, each week. Moms Empowerment is a parenting program that provides support to mothers by empowering them to discuss the impact of the violence on their child's development; to build parenting competence; to provide a safe place to discuss parenting fears and worries; and to build connections for the mother in the context of a supportive group. In essence, this ten-session intervention is aimed at improving mothers’ repertoire of parenting and disciplinary skills, and enhancing social and emotional adjustment, thereby reducing the children’s behavioral and adjustment difficulties.

Essential Components

  • Treats both mothers and their children 6-12 years old exposed to domestic violence within the last year.
  • Occurs in separate groups that are held at the same time.
  • Provides childcare for younger siblings, if possible.
  • Provides transportation assistance, if available.
  • Utilizes group therapists who first participate in training in implementing the Kids' Club and Moms Empowerment programs. There is a training manual and a list of readings that prepare the therapist for specific sessions, as this program is based on research studies of children exposed to domestic violence.
  • Uses a pair of therapists as group leaders for each group. Recommends that group therapists meet together before each group to prepare activities for each session according to the training manual
  • Requires that group therapists, if in training, receive supervision by a licensed professional following each session. If not in supervision, both the children’s and the mothers’ group therapists should meet to discuss each session to assure treatment fidelity with the training manual, to identify problems and propose solutions for the next session.
  • Makes referrals for assessment or additional care as needed.

Child Component

Kids Club & Moms Empowerment was designed with a child component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

  • Exposure to Domestic Violence.

Age range: 5 – 12

Developmental Delays:

This program was not developed for children with developmental delays, and has not been tested for children with developmental delays.

Parent / Caregiver Component

Kids Club & Moms Empowerment was designed with a parent/caregiver component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

  • Exposure to Domestic Violence.

Group Format

Kids Club & Moms Empowerment was designed to be conducted in a group setting, and has been tested for use in a group setting.

Recommended group size:

5-7 children in each child group and 5-7 mothers in each mom group.

Testing References:

Graham-Bermann, S.A., Lynch, S., Banyard, V., Devoe, E., & Halabu, H. (in press). Community based intervention for children exposed to intimate partner violence: An efficacy trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

  • Community Agency
  • Outpatient Clinic

Homework

This program does not include a homework component.

Languages

Kids Club & Moms Empowerment does not have materials available in a language other than English.

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

The setting must include a room for the children's program and a room for the mothers' program with table and chairs. Program supplies for each session are described in the training manual.

Education and Training Resources

There is a manual that describes how to implement this program, and there is training available for this program.

Training Contact:
Training is obtained:

Please contact above for more information.

Number of days/hours:

Please contact above for more information.

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

This program is rated a "3 - Promising Research Evidence" on the Scientific Rating Scale based on the published, peer-reviewed research available. The practice must have at least one study utilizing some form of control (e.g., untreated group, placebo group, matched wait list study) establishing the practice's benefit over the placebo, or found it to be comparable to or better than an appropriate comparison practice. Please see the Scientific Rating Scale for more information.

Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being

Show relevant research...

Graham-Bermann, S. A., Lynch, D., Banyard, V., DeVoe, E. R., & Halabu, H. (2007). Community-based intervention for children exposed to intimate partner violence: An efficacy trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75(2), 199-209.

Type of Study: Pseudo-random controlled trial (see Summary)
Number of Participants: 181 children and their mothers

Population:

  • Age range — 6-12
  • Race/Ethnicity — 57% Caucasian, 35% African American/Biracial, 8% Other
  • Gender — Not Specified
  • Status — Some child participants were in foster care, some were in shelters, but most were living with their mothers.

Location / Institution: Urban Michigan

Summary: (To include comparison groups, outcomes, measures, notable limitations)
A community-based intervention program was tested with 181 children ages 6-12 and their mothers exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) during the past year. Participants were recruited by flyers, through shelters, and social service agencies. A sequential assignment procedure allocated participants to three conditions based on the order in which they were recruited to the study: child-only intervention (CO), child-plus-mother intervention (CM) and a wait list comparison (CG). Incidents of IPV were assessed using the Conflict Tactics Scale and the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale. A two-level hierarchical linear model consisting of repeated observations within individuals and individuals assigned to conditions was used to evaluate the effects of time from baseline to post-intervention comparing the three conditions and from post-intervention to eight-month follow-up for both intervention conditions. Outcomes were individual children’s externalizing and internalizing behavior problems, as measured by the Child Behavior Checklist and attitudes about violence, based on a scale created for this study. CM children showed the greatest improvement over time of the three conditions in externalizing problems and attitudes about violence. There were 79% fewer children with clinical range externalizing scores and 77% fewer children with clinical range internalizing scores from baseline to follow-up for CM children.

Length of post-intervention follow-up: 8 months.

Graham-Bermann, S. A., Kulkarni, M., & Kanukollu, S. (in press). Is disclosure therapeutic for children following exposure to traumatic violence? Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(5).

Type of Study: One group pre-test/post-test design
Number of Participants: 121 children and mothers

Population:

  • Age range — 6-12 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — 58% White, 30% African American, 9% Biracial, and 3% Latino/Latina
  • Gender — 56 males and 65 females
  • Status — Mothers were recruited for participation in the intervention efficacy study at social service agencies and shelters for battered women.

Location / Institution: Five urban locations in Michigan

Summary: (To include comparison groups, outcomes, measures, notable limitations)
Child therapists conducted a group intervention for children exposed to IPV to (a) identify the proportion of children who spontaneously disclosed their experiences in a group therapy intervention; (b) assess the relationship between disclosure in therapy and postintervention change in behavioral adjustment, self-competence, and beliefs; and (c) identify individual child and treatment-related factors associated with disclosure. Mothers and children completed demographic and standardized attitudinal and mental health questionnaires. Fifty-two percent of children spontaneously disclosed during therapy. Child ethnicity, harm to the child, internalizing behavioral adjustment problems, and engagement in therapy predicted disclosure. Disclosure within the group was associated with gains for individual children in internalizing behavioral adjustment problems and improvement in attitudes and beliefs concerning the acceptability of violence. Limitations included the disproportionate number of minority families, low socioeconomic status, and a sample located in the Midwest which challenged generalizability.

Length of post-intervention follow-up: Posttest at 10 weeks from start of treatment.

References

Show references...

Graham-Bermann, S. A. (2000). Evaluating interventions for children exposed to family violence. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 4(1), 191-216.

Graham-Bermann, S. A., & Halabu, H. (2004). Fostering resilient coping in children exposed to violence: Cultural considerations, in P. G. Jaffe, L. L. Baker, & A. Cunningham (Eds.) Protecting children from domestic violence. (pp. 71-88). New York: Guilford Press.

Graham-Bermann, S. A. (1992). The Kids' Club: A preventive interventionprogram for children of battered women. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.

Graham-Bermann, S. A., & Follett, C. (2001). Fostering resilience in young children exposed to violence. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.

Contact Information

Name: Sandra Graham-Bermann, PhD
Agency/Affiliation: University of Michigan
Email:
Phone: (734) 763-3159

Date Reviewed: June 2011 (originally reviewed in January 2008)