Evaluation of the International Child Development Programme (ICDP) as a community-wide parenting programme

BACKGROUND: Many parenting programmes lack proper evaluation, especially under community-wide implementation. OBJECTIVE: Examining the effectiveness of the eight-week International Child Development Programme (ICDP), implemented as a general programme. METHODOLOGY: Non-clinical caregivers attending ICDP (N = 141) and a non-attending community comparison group (N = 79) completed questionnaires on parenting, psychosocial functioning, and child difficulties before and after ICDP course. Analyses compare changes in scores for both groups over time. RESULTS: The ICDP group showed more positive attitudes towards child management and reported better child management, improved parental strategies and less impact of child difficulties. Caregivers with low initial scores benefited most. The comparison group showed little change with a significant decrease in scores on the caregiver–child activity scale. DISCUSSION: The results suggest that caregivers in the community who do not show clinical signs or have children with behaviour or other disorders, may benefit from participating in parent training based on ICDP.