(PS5-58) Triple P Fear-less: A Closer Look at the Use of an Anxiety Focused Parent Training Program in Emergency Homeless Shelters

Homelessness is a major public health problem in the United States. In the 2019-2020 school year an estimated 1.2 million students were identified as homeless (U.S Department of education, 2021). Children experiencing homelessness are at a heightened risk for

negative developmental outcomes, including lower educational attainment (Keogh et al., 2006), increased prevalence of mental health disorders (Bassuk, Richard, & Tsertsvadze, 2015), and negative physical health outcomes (Gultekin et al., 2019). The most well-supported protective factor known to mitigate the potential negative impact of homelessness is positive parenting (Cutuli & Herbers, 2014). However, despite the higher rates of mental health difficulties as well as higher levels of behavior concerns, there are very few evidence-based parenting programs currently being used and studied in shelters. Haskett, Loehaman, and Burkard (2014) completed an extensive qualitative literature review of parenting interventions in shelters and only identified 12 studies to include and many of these program lacked an evidence base. Despite the lack of evidence-based parenting interventions available in shelters, parents are asking for support surrounding parenting (Owens, Stokes, & Haskett, 2022). Triple P is a multi-tiered parenting intervention developed to provide parents with skills to prevent and reduce child behavior problems. Decades of research point to the positive effects of Triple P on multiple outcomes, across diverse populations (Prinz et al.,2009, Sanders et al., 2014, Schilling et al., 2020). Previous research indicates that positive parenting interventions increase the use of positive parenting behavior, decrease negative parenting practices, and improve overall child functioning (Sanders et al., 2014). The current study will discuss the implementation of an Anxiety based version of Triple P (Triple P Fear-Less) in three emergency shelters in North Carolina. We will provide the results of various pre and post parent-based surveys, including looking at parent mental health, perceptions of child behaviors, child anxiety symptomatology, and parent satisfaction with the intervention. We will also discuss the results of use of the Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS), a brief qualitative measure used to capture the voices of parents and their views of their child and their relationship with their child. Due to the transient nature of this population, it is often hard to conduct extensive qualitative and quantitative measures with multiple follow ups with this population. Thus, the current study is unique in both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized. In addition to providing outcome measures, we will also focus on discussing experiences of the facilitators in making the intervention fit with this specific population while maintaining treatment fidelity.