Evidence & Evaluation
If you want to talk about a research design or have your own Parent Café evaluation findings to share with us, please contact us.
Be Strong Families Parent Cafés: An Emerging Research-Informed Practice
Be Strong Families Parent Cafés are a research-informed practice, drawing on the research base of the Strengthening Families™ Protective Factors. The effectiveness of Parent Cafés is supported by over a decade of experiential evidence in communities in the US and internationally, as well as by evaluation and research conducted independently which shows that Parent Cafés are effective in achieving short-term outcomes that are the foundation for the intended long-term outcomes, such as families experiencing increased well-being.
Be Strong Families is working to strengthen the research and evidence base for Parent Cafés and is partnering with researchers across the US to conduct studies needed to earn CEBC and CBCAP standards of evidence.
Our research partners include Santa Clara County Department of Family and Children’s Services in California and the Early Childhood Innovation Network at Children’s Hospital in Washington D.C.
Independent Research on Parent Cafés
Independent evaluations of Parent Café efforts conducted by partners have found statistically significant increases in:
Mean scores on combined Protective Factors to reduce child maltreatment and on family functioning and resiliency
Cross-ethnic group social interactions
Ability to listen carefully to children, family members or friends
Quality of interactions and relationship with their children
Ability to handle stressful situations with their children or other family members
Motivation to become involved in their community or their child’s school
Overall summary score for the Connor-Davidson Resiliency Scale
Click here to download a PDF summary of independent evaluation efforts, as well as links to download the reports themselves.