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social and emotional development of children (various studies are mentioned by Dawe andFrye, 2008). Further, mothers imprisoned with their children can display increasedbehavioural problems including aggression, frequent fighting and hostility and actingout/withdrawal. Some studies also note an impact on student academic performance.In this recent study, twelve women recruited from correctional settings commenced theprogram, with eight completing treatment. Nine of the twelve women contacted were stillincarcerated and commenced the PUP program prior to their release, continuing it into theirpost-release period. The mean age of the participating women was approximately 30 years,and the mean age of the target child was 5.6 years (range of 2-12 years). Informationcollection, similar to the other studies, occurred through both an interview and self-reportingquestionnaires completed at initial assessment, completion of treatment, and follow up.Maternal functioning, parent-child functioning and child behaviour outcomes were analysed.Results of this study found that participation in the program was associated with significantimprovements across outcome measures. In particular, improvements in maternal emotionalwellbeing, stress levels in the parenting role and child behaviour outcomes were reported.Reductions were found in child abuse potential and problem child behaviours. It is reportedthat the gains for most women appeared to be maintained in the short term.The means and SDs for outcome indicators reported at different stages of the study (pre-treatment, post-treatment and follow-up) are presented in Table 3-26.TABLE 3-26: MEANS AND SDS FOR OUTCOME MEASURES – WOMEN PRISONERS STUDYSource: Dawe and Frye (2008).Study – Effectiveness for families referred by child protection servicesA recent study on the PUP program (Hartnett and Dawe, 2008) sought to determine theeffectiveness of the PUP program when applied to families referred by child protectionservices. The results from this study are significant in terms of assessing changes in childabuse outcomes stemming from PUP intervention. Ten families were referred for treatmentby a non-government agency providing services for parents and children of families involvedin the child protection system. Seven of these families were single-parent. Similar to theother studies, outcomes were assessed in the parental functioning, child behaviour andsocial context domains. Pre-intervention and post-intervention analysis of outcomes wascarried out. Statistically significant improvement was found in all measures over the threemonth period, except the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) and the problemswith child and self subscale of the CAPI scale (Table 3-27).97