Home Program Kids Club & Moms Empowerment

Kids Club & Moms Empowerment

Topic Areas
Scientific Rating
Child Welfare Relevance
Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence: Services for Victims and their Children
3  — Promising Research Evidence
Medium

About This Program

Target Population: Children ages 6-12 and their mothers exposed to intimate partner violence in the last year

For children/adolescents ages: 6 – 12

For parents/caregivers of children ages: 6 – 12

Program Overview

The Kids' Club & Moms Empowerment are two programs designed to coincide with each other and are most effective when both the mother and child participate in the intervention. Kids Club is a preventive intervention program that targets children's knowledge about family violence; their attitudes and beliefs about families and family violence; their emotional adjustment; and their social behavior in the small group. The program is phase-based, such that early sessions are designed to enhance the child's sense of safety, to develop the therapeutic alliance, and to create a common vocabulary of emotions for making sense of violence experiences. Later sessions address responsibility for violence, managing emotions, family relationship paradigms, and conflict and its resolution. Activities rely on displacement and group lessons are reviewed and repeated, as needed, each week. Moms Empowerment is a parenting program that provides support to mothers by empowering them to discuss the impact of the violence on their child's development; to build parenting competence; to provide a safe place to discuss parenting fears and worries; and to build connections for the mother in the context of a supportive group. In essence, this ten-session intervention is aimed at improving mothers' repertoire of parenting and disciplinary skills, and enhancing social and emotional adjustment, thereby reducing the children's behavioral and adjustment difficulties.

Program Goals

The goals of Kids Club are:

  • Reduce children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral adjustment problems
  • Reduce children's harmful attitudes and beliefs about the acceptability of violence
  • Enhance children's ability to cope with violence by learning safety skills, additional conflict resolution skills and enhanced ability to identify and regulate emotions related to violence

The goals of the Moms Empowerment are:

  • Reduce the level of mothers' traumatic stress and violence exposure
  • Enhance mothers' safety and ability to parent under stress
  • Provide support and resources in a group setting

Logic Model

The program representative did not provide information about a Logic Model for Kids Club & Moms Empowerment.

Essential Components

The essential components of Kids Club and Moms Empowerment are:

  • Treats both mothers and their children 6-12 years old exposed to domestic violence within the last year
  • Occurs in separate groups that are held at the same time
  • Recommends 5-7 children in each child group and 5-7 mothers in each moms empowerment group
  • Provides childcare for younger siblings, if possible
  • Provides transportation assistance, if available
  • Utilizes group therapists who first participate in training in implementing the Kids Club and Moms Empowerment programs
  • Uses a pair of therapists as group leaders for each group; recommends that group therapists meet together before each group to prepare activities for each session according to the training manual
  • Requires that group therapists, if in training, receive supervision by a licensed professional following each session
  • Recommends both the children's and the mothers' group therapists meet to discuss each session to assure treatment fidelity with the training manual, to identify problems and propose solutions for the next session
  • Makes referrals for assessment or additional care as needed

Program Delivery

Child/Adolescent Services

Kids Club & Moms Empowerment directly provides services to children/adolescents and addresses the following:

  • Exposure to domestic violence

Parent/Caregiver Services

Kids Club & Moms Empowerment directly provides services to parents/caregivers and addresses the following:

  • Exposure to domestic violence

Recommended Intensity:

Groups for children and the mothers meet concurrently for a one-hour session once a week

Recommended Duration:

Ten weeks

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

  • Outpatient Clinic
  • Community-based Agency / Organization / Provider

Homework

This program does not include a homework component.

Languages

Kids Club & Moms Empowerment has materials available in a language other than English:

Swedish

For information on which materials are available in this language, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed at the bottom of this page).

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

The setting must include a room for the children's program and a room for the mothers' program with table and chairs. Program supplies for each session are described in the training manual.

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

Therapists are those who have a Master's in Social Work (MSW), are a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, or have a Master's or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Psychology. Therapists can also be those in training to receive a professional degree and who receive regular supervision by a licensed professional.

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Contact:
Training Type/Location:

Please contact above for more information.

Number of days/hours:

Please contact above for more information.

Implementation Information

Pre-Implementation Materials

There are no pre-implementation materials to measure organizational or provider readiness for Kids Club & Moms Empowerment.

Formal Support for Implementation

There is formal support available for implementation of Kids Club & Moms Empowerment as listed below:

Ongoing support is available in the form of technical assistance and consultation in implementing the program. Weekly supervision can be obtained for those implementing the program for the first time.

Fidelity Measures

There are no fidelity measures for Kids Club & Moms Empowerment.

Implementation Guides or Manuals

There are implementation guides or manuals for Kids Club & Moms Empowerment as listed below:

Part of the training manual includes information on setting up the program, trouble shooting, ethical concerns, and issues related to problems that may arise.

Research on How to Implement the Program

Research has not been conducted on how to implement Kids Club & Moms Empowerment.

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being

Graham-Bermann, S. A., Lynch, D., Banyard, V., DeVoe, E. R., & Halabu, H. (2007). Community-based intervention for children exposed to intimate partner violence: An efficacy trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75(2), 199–209. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.75.2.199

Type of Study: Pretest–posttest study with a nonequivalent control group (Quasi-experimental)
Number of Participants: 362 (181 children and their mothers)

Population:

  • Age — Children: 6–12 years; Adults: Mean=33.1 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — Children: 52% Caucasian, 34% African American, 10% Biracial, and 5% Other; Adults: 57% Caucasian, 35% African American/Biracial, and 8% Other
  • Gender — Children: 50% Female; Adults: 100% Female
  • Status — Participants were children in foster care and their mothers, children living in shelters and their mothers, and children and their mothers who live together, with most in the latter group. The mothers had all been exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) in the past year.

Location/Institution: Urban Michigan

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to test a community-based intervention program with children and their mothers exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) during the past year. Participants were assigned sequentially to three conditions based on the order in which they were recruited to the study: the Kids Club child-only intervention (CO), the Kids Club & Moms Empowerment child-plus-mother intervention, and a waitlist comparison (CG). Measures utilized include the Conflict Tactics Scale, the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale, the Child Behavior Checklist, and attitudes about violence, based on a scale created for this study. Results indicate that Kids Club & Moms Empowerment children showed the greatest improvement over time of the three conditions in externalizing problems and attitudes about violence. There were 79% fewer children with clinical range externalizing scores and 77% fewer children with clinical range internalizing scores from baseline to follow-up for Kids Club & Moms Empowerment children. Limitations include that the study included children with a mixture of clinical and non-clinical needs at baseline, possible self-report bias, and concerns about generalizability to other populations.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 8 months.

Graham-Bermann, S. A., Howell, K. H., Lilly, M. M., & Devoe, E. (2011). Mediators and moderators of change in adjustment following intervention for children exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV). Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(9), 1815–1833. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260510372931

Type of Study: Pretest–posttest study with a nonequivalent control group (Quasi-experimental)
Number of Participants: 180

Population:

  • Age — 6–12 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — 52% White, 33% African American, 11% Biracial, 2% Latina/o, and 2% Native American
  • Gender — 47% Male
  • Status — Participants were children exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) in the past year.

Location/Institution: Southeast Michigan

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The study used the same sample as Graham-Bermann et al. (2007). The purpose of the study was to examine children who participated in an intervention program, the Kids’ Club and the mother’s Parenting Empowerment Program [now called Kids Club & Moms Empowerment]. Participants were assigned sequentially to three conditions based on the order in which they were recruited to the study: the Kids Club child-only intervention (CO), the Kids’ Club and the mother’s Parenting Empowerment Program child-plus-mother intervention, and a waitlist comparison group (CG). Measures utilized include the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS), the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Anxiety and Parental Childrearing Styles Scale, and the Posttraumatic Stress Scale for Family Violence. Results indicate that there was a significant relationship between the extent of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV), gender of the child, change in mothers’ mental health, and change in child adjustment. Results also indicate that length of exposure to violence was found to moderate the relationship between the amount of the child’s and mother’s participation in the intervention and change in child adjustment, specifically internalizing behavioral problems. Limitations include concerns about the generalizability to other populations, and possible reporter bias of mothers’ self-report.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

Graham-Bermann, S. A., Kulkarni, M. R., & Kanukollu, S. (2011). Is disclosure therapeutic for children following exposure to traumatic violence?. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(5), 1056–1076. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260510365855

Type of Study: Pretest–posttest study with a nonequivalent control group (Quasi-experimental)
Number of Participants: 121

Population:

  • Age — 6–12 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — 58% White, 30% African American, 9% Biracial, and 3% Latino
  • Gender — 54% Female
  • Status — Participants were children exposed to intimate partner violence.

Location/Institution: Five urban locations in Michigan

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The study used a subsample of the same sample as Graham-Bermann, et al. (2007). The purpose of the study was to examine the process of disclosure during therapy in children who were exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV). Participants were assigned sequentially to three conditions based on the order in which they were recruited to the study: the Kids Club child-only intervention (CO), the Kids Club & Moms Empowerment child-plus-mother intervention, and a waitlist comparison group (CG). Measures utilized include the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS), the Severity of Violence Against Women Scales, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Attitudes About Family Violence (AAFV) Scale, the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Anxiety and Parental Childrearing Styles Scale, and the Harter Perceived Self-Competence Scales for Children. Results indicate that disclosure within the group was associated with gains for individual children in internalizing, behavioral, and adjustment problems as well as in improvement in attitudes and beliefs concerning the acceptability of violence. However, disclosure was significantly different for White compared to ethnic minority children where White children were almost twice as likely to disclose traumatic experiences. Limitations include concerns about generalizability due to the population and possible reporter bias.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

Graham-Bermann, S. A., & Miller, L. E. (2013). Intervention to reduce traumatic stress following intimate partner violence: An efficacy trial of the Moms' Empowerment Program (MEP). Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 41(2) 329–350. https://doi.org/10.1521/pdps.2013.41.2.329

Type of Study: Pretest–posttest study with a nonequivalent control group (Quasi-experimental)
Number of Participants: 181

Population:

  • Age — Mean=33.1 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — 57% Caucasian, 35% African American or Biracial, and 8% Other Groups
  • Gender — 100% Female
  • Status — Participants were women who experienced at least one incident of physical IPV during the past year and who had a child between the ages of 6 and 12 years of age.

Location/Institution: Southeast Michigan

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The study used the same sample as Graham-Bermann, et al. (2007). The purpose of the study was to examine the Mom’s Empowerment Program with children and their mothers exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) during the past year. Participants were sequentially allocated to three conditions: the Kids Club child-only intervention (CO), the Kids Club & Moms Empowerment child-plus-mother intervention, and a waitlist comparison group (CG). Measures utilized include the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, the Posttraumatic Stress Scale for Domestic Violence, the Severity of Violence against Women Scales (SVAWS), and the Conflict Tactics Scale - Revised (CTS-2). Results indicate that women in all three conditions improved over time, however those in the Kids Club & Moms Empowerment condition showed the greatest reduction in traumatic stress as compared to CO or CG conditions. Limitations include the lack of randomization, concerns about generalizability to other populations, and reliance on self-report of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 8 months.

Additional References

Graham-Bermann, S. A. (2000). Evaluating interventions for children exposed to family violence. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 4(1), 191-216.

Graham-Bermann, S. A., & Follett, C. (2001). Fostering resilience in young children exposed to violence. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.

Graham-Bermann, S. A., & Halabu, H. (2004). Fostering resilient coping in children exposed to violence: Cultural considerations, in P. G. Jaffe, L. L. Baker, & A. Cunningham (Eds.) Protecting children from domestic violence. (pp. 71-88). New York: Guilford Press.

Contact Information

Sandra Graham-Bermann, PhD
Agency/Affiliation: University of Michigan
Email:
Phone: (734) 764-6332

Date Research Evidence Last Reviewed by CEBC: October 2023

Date Program Content Last Reviewed by Program Staff: June 2015

Date Program Originally Loaded onto CEBC: January 2008