Australian parenting expert Professor Matthew Sanders has been honoured with the 2004 International Collaborative Prevention Research Award at a ceremony in Quebec City, Canada.
Professor Sanders is head of the Parent and Family Support Centre at The University of Queensland and founder of the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program.
The award recognizes worldwide collaborative research generated by Triple P in countries including USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, Scotland, England, New Zealand, Canada and Iran.
Triple P is a parenting and family support strategy that aims to prevent severe behavioural, emotional and developmental problems in children. It tackles potential problems by enhancing the knowledge, skills and confidence of parents, according to Professor Sanders.
“It’s very encouraging to see so many countries recognizing the importance of parenting and it’s especially encouraging to see these countries implementing Triple P across whole populations, not just across parents of children at risk,” he said.
“It’s essential we invest in preventive programmes at a population level and actively work to destigmatise and normalize the process of parent education. Parenting programmes need to become as sought after and as widely accepted as driving lessons.”
Professor Sanders said the large amount of evidence generated by Triple P on preventive strategies had attracted the attention of the international research community.
“Carefully controlled clinical and empirical trials into the effectiveness of Triple P, both in Australia and internationally, repeatedly indicate clear evidence of short and long-term benefits for both families and the community,” he said.
“Immediate short-term benefits include improved relationships between parents and children; children displaying more cooperation and less disruption; decreased stress and anxiety; reduced marital conflict and increased parenting confidence. Long-term benefits include a reduction in child abuse; improvements in parental quality of life; and wider societal benefits associated with less social delinquency and crime.”
Professor Sanders said recent research conducted by the School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne revealed that the implementation of Triple P as a population strategy needed only to avert less than 1.5 per cent of cases of conduct disorder to pay for itself. Based on the University of Melbourne data, the implementation of Triple P, at a population level across Australia, would reduce the number of cases of conduct disorder by 37 per cent with a cost saving of $526 million.
“Evidence-based parenting programs are the most important way to promote the health and well being of children and to prevent abuse. They must be the centerpiece of our public health policy,” he said.
In a licensing deal brokered by The University of Queensland’s main technology commercialization company, UniQuest, Triple P is marketed internationally by Brisbane-based Triple P International.
Media: For more information contact Julia Renaud, Corporate Development Manager, UniQuest telephone: 07 3365 4037, Mobile: 0438 436 179, Email: j.renaud@uniquest.com.au
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