Reducing violence for adolescents and their parents in three disadvantaged communities in North India: a pilot implementation study of the Parwarish (PLH-Teens) parenting programme.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the pilot implementation of Parwarish (Parenting for Lifelong Health-Teens) programme on reducing violence against adolescents and improving parenting practices, mental health, gender attitudes, resilience and financial coping among families in disadvantaged communities in North India. DESIGN: Pilot implementation study using a pre-post study design. SETTING: Community-based implementation in three disadvantaged settings in North India, including urban informal settlements, rural agricultural areas and remote tribal communities. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 239 adolescents (aged 12-18 years) and 478 parents from 239 families were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling; all participants completed baseline assessment, with follow-up conducted within 6 weeks after intervention completion. INTERVENTIONS: A 14-week group-based parenting intervention delivered weekly in community settings, focusing on communication, problem-solving, non-violent discipline and financial management, facilitated by trained community members. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcomes were parent and youth-reported maltreatment. Secondary outcomes included parenting practices, adolescent behaviour, mental health, resilience, gender-equitable attitudes and financial coping. RESULTS: Significant improvements were observed across all outcomes. Among adolescents, positive parenting increased (β=13.7; 95% CI 12.43 to 14.98), youth behaviour improved (β=9.12; 95% CI 8.11 to 10.13), resilience increased (β=9.53; 95% CI 8.19 to 10.86) and harsh discipline decreased (β=-8.69; 95% CI -10.45 to -6.94). Among parents, positive parenting improved (β=10.6; 95% CI 9.43 to 11.85), youth behaviour improved (β=11.11; 95% CI 10.20 to 12.02), harsh discipline decreased (β=-10.60; 95% CI -12.23 to -8.96) and financial coping improved (β=-4.97; 95% CI -5.98 to -3.97). CONCLUSIONS: This low-cost, community-delivered pilot implementation of the Parwarish intervention was associated with improvements in parenting practices and in mental health and resilience among adolescents and parents. While causal inference is limited by the study design, the findings support further evaluation using controlled designs. It suggests potential for scale-up in similar low-resource settings. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12622000858796.