Review of parenting interventions in Australia
Title: Evidence review: An analysis of the evidence for parenting interventions in Australia
Author: Parenting Research Centre
Commissioned by: Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
Published: 2012, updated 2017
Our Evidence review: An analysis of the evidence for parenting interventions in Australia, is a valuable tool to help policymakers, professionals and agencies make decisions about the suitability of individual parenting programs for achieving particular child and family outcomes.
The report also includes information about factors that influence the successful implementation of programs within family support services across Australia.
Our findings are based on an analysis of international web-based clearinghouses combined with a rapid evidence assessment of Australian evaluations of parenting programs. These analyses identified 34 parenting programs supported by good international evidence, and 25 parenting programs evaluated in Australia which were supported by good evidence.
2017 update
In 2017, one of the review’s authors, Parenting Research Centre Knowledge Synthesis leader Dr Michelle Macvean, used the same methods to search four academic databases and identified 37 new papers reporting Australian evaluations of parenting programs. These included evidence for 20 programs not part of the 2012 evidence review, bringing to 129 the total number of combined programs reviewed. Four programs were rated ‘well supported’ and 26 were rated ‘supported’ for improving at least one child or family outcome. All programs included in the review have been evaluated in Australia, making the findings particularly relevant for Australian decision makers.
Original report resources (2012)
- Read the original Report (PDF, 1.18MB)
- Appendix 1: Family Support Program outcomes (PDF, 329KB)
- Appendix 2: Clearinghouse ratings systems (PDF, 1.22MB)
- Appendix 3: Summary of evidence for parenting programs (PDF, 616KB)
- Appendix 4: Program descriptions for parenting programs (PDF, 744KB)
- Appendix 5: Data extraction template (PDF, 251KB)
- Appendix 6: Program rating checklist template (PDF, 660KB)
- Appendix 7: Summary of evidence of program effectiveness (PDF, 201KB)
- Appendix 8: Programs rated as ‘Well Supported’ (PDF, 186KB)
- Appendix 9: Programs rated as ‘Supported’ (PDF, 1.67MB)
- Appendix 10: Programs rated as ‘Promising’ (PDF, 878KB)
- Appendix 11: Programs rated as ‘Emerging’ (PDF, 519KB)
- Appendix 12: Programs rated as ‘Not Effective’ (PDF, 375KB)