Undergraduates who CARE: An evaluation of Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE) training with undergraduate students

Abstract

Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement training (CARE) is an empirically-based, trauma-informed, behaviorally grounded training aimed at equipping any adult interacting with any child with the skills and benefits of parent management training (Gurwitch et al., 2016). Despite growing evidence for the effectiveness of CARE training across a variety of populations (e.g., biological parents, foster parents, social workers, pediatricians, and teachers), little research has examined dissemination elements which lead to successful training. For example, CARE does not yet have a standardized method of direct measurement of skill-use for non-caregiver adults. To add, while CARE is intended for use by any adult engaging with any child (e.g., 2-18 years of age) , there have been no investigations of trainee characteristics which predict success in skill acquisition and knowledge gains following CARE training. The current study aimed to 1) evaluate CARE training among a multidisciplinary sample of undergraduate students utilizing a novel, standardized, observation-based assessment of CARE skill acquisition and 2) investigate trainee-related predictors of skill recognition, skill acquisition, and CARE training knowledge. Results revealed the feasibility of utilizing an observational method of assessment to measure trainee skill acquisition and training effectiveness for a sample of undergraduate students. Undergraduate trainees demonstrated gains in positive skill acquisition, skill recognition, and CARE knowledge from pre- to post-training. Grade point average was found to be significant as selection criterion for skill recognition and CARE skill application. Future research should continue the implementation of technology utilized in this study to enhance both training delivery and skill acquisition measurement and evaluate the effectiveness of an online training format.