Project BELONG: Breaking the Cycle of Intergenerational Family Violence and Trauma

Plain-language summary

This study will examine the efficacy of a dyadic therapy intervention for mothers who have histories of adverse events (e.g., history of family violence, partner violence, family conflict, and/or childhood trauma, including abuse/neglect) and their very young children (ages 0-5 years), with the goal of demonstrating how an evidence supported, community-based and/or hospital-based therapeutic intervention may help reduce exposure to trauma and incidents of child maltreatment, improve parental stress and mental health, and secure parent-child attachment. The three main objectives associated with Project BELONG are: 1) to determine the effectiveness of a dyadic care model in improving parent/child interaction, parenting confidence and competence, reducing parenting stress and social isolation, and improving access to concrete supports; 2) to address maltreatment risk in children by enhancing social-emotional functioning and developmental progress; and 3) to train new and future mental health professionals in dyadic mental health services and disseminate the model and findings through health professional schools and publications.

Who can participate

What they're measuring

Trial details