© Child Trends 2003
|
Guide
to Effective Programs |
PARENTING THROUGH CHANGE (PTC)
OVERVIEW
The Parenting Through Change (PTC) program teaches parenting techniques to recently separated or divorced mothers. These techniques are aimed at reducing behavioral and emotional problems in the mother's children. In a random assignment study of 238 recently divorced mothers and their sons, the mother/son pairs were assigned either to receive the Parenting Through Change intervention or to a non-treatment control group. Results indicated that boys in the experimental group exhibited significantly greater reduction in delinquency and deviant peer affiliation than boys in the control group and that these reductions in delinquency were due to improvement in parenting and reductions in deviant peer affiliation.
DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM
Target population: Recently separated, single mothers with children between grades 1 and 3.
Parenting Through Change is a prevention-based parent training program for recently separated or divorced, single mothers. The program was designed to prevent child behavioral and emotional problems that tend to follow parental divorce or separation. The program attempts to prevent or reduce these child problems through parenting skills training.
The parenting skills training consists of 14 weekly parent group sessions that teach various effective parenting practices, such as skill encouragement, limit-setting, problem-solving, monitoring, and positive involvement. Parenting Through Change also provides parents with strategies to decrease coercive exchanges with their children and to use praise and incentives to promote prosocial behaviors. Each newly introduced topic builds upon a previously learned skill. Topics are introduced in one or more sessions and then reviewed and revisited throughout the program.
The estimated cost of implementing Parenting Through Change is $1,000 per participant. The cost covers 1) recording equipment for supervision and fidelity checks, training of group supervisors, and training of group facilitators, 2) user guides, program materials, training, and evaluation materials, and 3) miscellaneous program expenses.
EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM
DeGarmo, D.S., & Forgatch, M.S. (2005). Early development of delinquency within divorced families: Evaluating a randomized preventive intervention trial. Developmental Science, 8, 229-239.
Evaluated population: The sample included 238 recently-separated mothers and their sons, who were between grades 1 and 3. The mothers and sons resided in a medium-sized city in the Pacific Northwest. The racial/ethnic composition of the boys in the sample was 86% white, 1% African American, 2% Latino, 2% Native American, and 9% from "other" racial/ethnic groups. The mean annual family income was $14,900, and 76% of the families were receiving public assistance.
Approach: Each mother-son pair was randomly assigned to either an intervention group or a non-intervention control group. Mothers in the intervention group attended a series of 14 parent group weekly meetings. Families in the control group did not receive any interventions.
Families received extensive multiple-method, setting, and agent assessments at baseline and at 6, 12, 18, and 30 months. Teacher ratings of delinquent were also collected at baseline and at 12, 24, and 36 months. Researchers conducted structured interviews with the mothers and children, laboratory observations of mother-child interactions, and surveys of the mothers, children, and teachers. Researchers assessed child outcomes, including delinquency and associations with deviant peers as reported by the boys. They also assessed effective parenting practices (such as discipline monitoring, involvement, and reinforcement of positive behavior).
Results: Non-experimental analyses suggest boys in the experimental group exhibited significantly greater reduction in delinquency and deviant peer affiliation than boys in the control group. In addition compared with parents of control group boys, intervention group parents had faster rates of adopting more positive parenting practices. The impact of the treatment intervention on delinquency was accounted for by a significant improvement in parenting and a reduction in deviant peer affiliation.
Marion S. Forgatch, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Implementation Sciences International, Inc.
2852 Willamette Street, #172
Eugene, OR 97405
Phone: (541) 485-2711; Fax: (541) 338-9963
E-mail: marionf@oslc.org
DeGarmo, D.S., & Forgatch, M.S. (2005). Early development of delinquency within divorced families: Evaluating a randomized preventive intervention trial. Developmental Science, 8, 229-239.
Program categorized in this guide according to the following:
Evaluated participant grades: 1 through 3
Program age ranges in the guide: Middle Childhood
Program components: Mentoring/Tutoring, Parent or Family Component
Measured outcomes: Behavioral Problems
Program information last updated on 9/12/08.
|
|
|
© Child Trends 2003 |