Evaluating PICCOLO Scores against the Crowell: Is the PICCOLO Valid with Parents of Maltreated Children in the Child Welfare System?

Felicia Ghrist, Tina Dykehouse, Carla Barron, & Ann Stacks

Purpose of the StudyPurpose of the StudyTo investigate if a brief measure of

parenting (PICCOLO), is a valid assessment for parents whose infants

are under court jurisdiction as a result of maltreatment, by comparing

it to a gold-standard research measure (Crowell).

This project is funded by The Centers for Disease Control, The Flinn Foundation and Wayne State University Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program

Justification for Using the PICCOLO Justification for Using the PICCOLO • Objective & inexpensive measure of caregiver-

child interaction • Short administration and coding• Flexible administration • Relatively short time for coders to become

reliable

• Expensive to train and administer • Little freedom to administer in a variety of

settings; need large lab space & video equipment

• Extensive time to become a reliable coder

RationaleRationale•Assessments allow social workers to know their clients’ strengths and limitations in order to target interventions and to report changes in parent-child interactions to the court.•Judges presiding over child welfare cases want objective measures when making a decision about whether or not it is safe to send a child home.•Currently there is no objective and practical measure used for community intervention programs or in the courtrooms.

Cons of using the CrowellCons of using the Crowell

Methods Methods All Baby Court families participate in an assessment when they are enrolled and 9-months after the beginning of treatment. The assessment includes:•Crowell Parent-Child Interaction Procedure•Parent Development Interview•Bayley Scales of Infant Development (III)•HistoryResults are shared with the courtFor this project two of the eight Crowell tasks will be re-coded using the PICCOLO

•Correlation analyses will be conducted to determine if subscale scores on the PICCOLO are significantly related to subscale scores on the Crowell

For this project two of the eight Crowell tasks are being re-coded using the PICCOLO to assess correlations among the subscales. The following hypotheses are being tested:•H1: PICCOLO subscale scores assessed during free play and teaching task 4 will be positively correlated with Crowell subscale scores.•H2: Compared to PICCOLO scores assessed during free play, PICCOLO scores assessed during the teaching task will be more strongly correlated with Crowell subscale scores.

Department of PsychologySchool of Social Work

Merrill Palmer Skillman InstituteFor Child and Family Development

Table 1.

Preliminary FindingsPreliminary Findings

Correlation MatricesCorrelation Matrices The Responsiveness subscales on the PICCOLO will be positively correlated with the Emotional Responsiveness subscale on the Crowell. This finding was partially supported.

• As expected Responsiveness is trending towards significant positive correlation with Emotional Responsiveness during task 4. (r= .740, p= .076)

• Contrary to expectations Responsiveness was not significantly correlated with Emotional Responsiveness during free play, however the correlation coefficient was high (r= .645)

Hypothesized Subscale CorrelationsPICCOLO CrowellAffection Positive Affect and Emotional Responsiveness

Responsiveness Emotional ResponsivenessEncouragement Emotional Responsiveness

Teaching Behavioral ResponsivenessThe Affection subscales on the PICCOLO will be positively correlated with the Positive and Emotional Responsiveness subscales on the Crowell. This finding was partially supported.

• As expected Affection was significantly correlated with Emotional Responsiveness and Positive Affect during task 4.• Contrary to expectations Affection was not significantly correlated with Positive Affect during free play, however the correlation

coefficient was high (r= .718)

The Encouragement subscales on the PICCOLO will be positively correlated with the Emotional Responsiveness subscale on the Crowell. This finding was fully supported.

• As expected Encouragement was significantly correlated with the Emotional Responsiveness in both free play and task 4.

The Teaching subscales on the PICCOLO will be positively correlated with the Behavioral Responsiveness subscale on the Crowell. This finding was not supported.

• Contrary to expectations Teaching was not significantly correlated with the Behavioral Responsiveness subscale in task 4.• Contrary to expectations Teaching is trending towards significant negative correlation with Behavioral Responsiveness during free

play. (r= -.791, p=.056)