Key message

The Unit for Social Welfare Research at the Norwegian Knowledge Centre in the National Institute of Public Health was commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs to identify reviews on the effects of primary- and secondary intervention for parents’ use of violence in parenting.

Methods

We conducted a systematic literature search with sorting of potentially relevant publications. In January 2017, a librarian carried out a literature search in nine relevant databases. Two researchers screened all references and assessed whether they met the pre-defined inclusion criteria. They assessed the methodological study quality and extracted data from the included systematic reviews. 

Results

We included 80 reviews: 12 systematic reviews and 68 non-systematic reviews. Most of the systematic reviews had moderate or high methodological quality. The majority of them concerned both fathers and mothers, while four reviews focused on mothers. The reviews summarized two main types of interventions: home visitation programs and parenting training programs. Violence against and abuse of own children were the most common outcomes reported in the systematic reviews.

The results of the 12 systematic reviews showed:

• Home visitation programs appeared to reduce child maltreatment in parenting and neglect, improve parenting skills, and improve parent-child relationships.
• Parenting programs appeared to reduce the risk of child maltreatment and improve parenting skills.
• Parenting programs combined with drug abuse treatments seemed to improved mothers’ parenting skills.