Parenting Curriculum Study Findings Available

I've written a few posts about my work as first author of the Parenting Inside Out (PIO) curriculum currently being used in all of Oregon state prisons and offered for sale nationally and internationally. As the instructional designer, trainer and coach of the trainers who delivered the curriculum during the NIMH randomized controlled trial run by the Oregon Social Learning Center, I've also written a few times about the experience of teaching PIO in prison classrooms.


Those of us who were in the trenches day in and day out with incarcerated moms and dads delivering this curriculum saw the transformations taking place in our classrooms. We knew good things were happening but increasingly, social service and government agencies require the use of evidence-based curricula for their programs and anecdotal stories about changed interactions, family relationships and interpersonal skills were nice but not enough. Finally, after a long but worth it wait, there are official and positive findings about the impact of PIO on the lives of incarcerated parents, their children and families!  Among the study results were the following:

• At one year post release, PIO participants had a 60% reduction in rearrest when compared to the control group.
• At one year post release, PIO participants had a 91% reduction in self-reported criminal behavior when compared to the control group.
• At one year post release, PIO participants had a 66% reduction in self-reported substance abuse when compared to the control group.
• During incarceration, the PIO group reported significantly more Positive Parent-Child Contact and had a higher score on the Parent Ease of Relationship with Caregiver measurement at the end of their PIO class than did the control group.
• After release from prison, PIO fathers used significantly more positive reinforcement with their children than did non-PIO fathers and PIO participants reported less use of poor discipline practices.
• Following the PIO class, parents were more likely to play an active role with their child than they did prior to taking PIO.

Eddy, J. M., Martinez, C. R., & Burraston, B. (2011). A randomized controlled trial of a parent management training program for incarcerated parents: Proximal impacts. In J. Poehlmann & J. M. Eddy (Eds.). Relationship processes and resilience in children with incarcerated parents. Monograph submitted for publication.

A summary report about PIO from Children's Justice Alliance notes: "In the recently released Pew Center on the States study of recidivism across the county, Oregon has the lowest recidivism rate of the 41 states who submitted data to the Pew Center. One of the reasons cited for Oregon’s success is its use of evidence-based programs. PIO is one of the evidence-based programs that have been in use during the time Oregon saw its recidivism rate decrease."


For more about the details of the study check here. For additional information and price quotes contact mindy@childrensjusticealliance.org or call 503-977-6399.