Increasing Family Safety and Decreasing Parental Stress and Child's Social-Emotional Problems with Resolutions Approach: a Single-Case Experimental Design Study Protocol

The present study describes a Single-Case Experimental Design (SCED) research protocol. The outlined research is aimed at investigating the effectiveness and potential mechanisms of the Resolutions Approach (RA), a multidisciplinary intervention to stop child abuse and enhance safety in the families. Given the heterogeneity of the population and innovativeness of the topic, a SCED with a baseline period (A-phase) followed by a treatment period (B-phase) is designed. Participants will be fifteen families with children between 8 and 18 years in which specific signs of current child abuse are determined by more than one informant. The RA is a 20-session protocol implemented in an individual, family and social network context. Assessments of primary (incidents of child abuse) and secondary (child's emotional and behavioral problems, parental stress, closeness of child-parent relationship) outcomes will take place at the start of the baseline period, at pre- and post-treatment, and at two follow-ups. Personalised, idiosyncratic, assessments of the main family problems will be administered on a weekly base. At post-treatment, a qualitative interview is administered in the families examining the most potent mechanisms of change and treatment components. During social network meetings, safety and openness of communication about child abuse is assessed. This study responds to a need for evidence-based interventions for mental health workers dealing with child abuse. Limitations such as bias in the parental reports of child abuse are discussed.