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Outcomes of Parent Education Programs Based on Reevaluation Counseling

Springer Nature
Journal of Child and Family Studies
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Abstract

We report two studies in which a parent education program based on Reevaluation Counseling was field-tested on mothers randomly assigned to treatment groups or equivalent, no-treatment comparison groups. The goal was to evaluate the program's viability, whether there were measurable effects, whether those effects were sustained over time, and whether the program was effective among diverse populations. The first study involved middle income, married mothers (n = 25) with at least one child younger than age five. Eleven members of the no-treatment group participated in the program three months later. Pretest, posttest, and follow-up measures included a parental attitude survey and a parenting stress index. The second study involved 18 black mothers with children enrolled in Head Start. Six members of the no-treatment group participated in the program two months later. Added to the pretest, posttest, and follow-up measures were a parent attitude research instrument and a parenting practices questionnaire. Results were replicated within and across studies. Significant effects suggest that the program can reduce parenting-related stress, improve parental attitudes, and encourage authoritative parenting practices, although some effects tend to diminish somewhat over time. The program appears viable with mothers of various social status groups.
... Given that Blacks are disproportionately impoverished compared to Whites (Chandler, 2010), they are at a higher risk of engaging in the varying degrees of physical punishment, of which violence is apart (Gershoff, 2002;Dyson, 2014). With poverty comes a lack of the aforementioned desired resources (Oakes, 2014), which then increases the risk of stress (Wolfe & Hirsch, 2003), produces a lower sense of control (Kennett & Chislett, 2012), a lack of patience and lower frustration tolerance (Lee, Anderson, Horowitz, & August 2009), and these stressors may increase the risk that one will use corporal punishment (Chung et al., 2009). In order to enact some sense of control or mitigate distress, frustrations may be taken out on one's child by physically disciplining them in order to stop agitating behavior immediately (Grier & Cobbs, 1992), as corporal punishment has been found to bring about immediate compliance (Gershoff, 2002). ...
... In another study, Wolfe and Hirsch (2003) evaluate the efficacy of the Listening to Children (LTC) program. LTC is a "parent education program ...
... Among their findings, they found that mothers in the treatment group, exhibited more "authoritative parenting practices than the non-treatment group" (Wolfe & Hirsch, 2003, p. 71). Overall, Wolfe and Hirsch (2003) concluded that the LTC treatment was a viable and advantageous parenting program for parents across racial and social economic backgrounds. ...
Research
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Corporal punishment has been linked to a number of undesirable outcomes, such as increased child aggression, decreased mental health across one’s lifespan, and increased adult criminal and antisocial behavior (Gershoff, 2002; Gershoff, Lansford, Sexton, Kean, & Sameroff, 2012). Parents of all racial/ ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds have been found to use corporal punishment, but prior research has found that African-American parents of low socioeconomic status are more likely to use corporal punishment than any other group (Chung et al., 2009; Berlin et al., 2009). Parenting classes have been shown to reduce the use of corporal punishment, but studies have found that compared to their European-American counterparts, African-American parents of low socioeconomic status are less likely to enroll in parenting classes (Heinrichs, Bertram, Kuschel, & Hahlweg, 2005; Baker, Arnold, & Meagher, 2011; Gross, Julion & Fogg, 2001). In this study, the investigator examined whether a relationship exists between low SES African-American parents’ willingness to enroll in a parenting class and their approval of corporal punishment practices. There were a total of 50 low SES African-American parents in this study. Parents’ approval of corporal punishment was assessed using the Cognitive Appraisal Scale for Corporal Punishment on the Dimensions of Discipline Inventory (DDI). Parents’ willingness to enroll in parenting classes and their opinions concerning parenting classes were assessed using an original survey created by the investigator. The investigator hypothesized that the approval of corporal punishment would be negatively correlated with parents’ willingness to enroll in parenting classes, but this hypothesis was not supported. It was found that the overwhelming majority of participants disapproved of corporal punishment practices. Additionally, most reported being willing to enroll in a parenting class if they were struggling with their child’s behavior and the class was offered at a convenient place and time. It was reasoned that the findings related to corporal punishment approval may be impacted by socially desirable responding, a sample that may be unrepresentative of the population of interest, and other factors that may limit the generalizability of the study’s results. ProQuest LLC. 2015.
... The PSI-SF has been used extensively in a variety of contexts and samples in the US (Haskett et al., 2006;Reitman et al., 2002;Smith et al., 2001), with good test-retest reliability (average score of 0.76) and high internal consistency (0.85) in the original validation study in rural and urban areas of Virginia (Abidin, 1990). Moreover, the PSI-SF has been found to have high test-retest reliability and validity in a sample of parents of South Africa children (Potterton et al., 2007) and sensitivity to change after parenting programs (Cowen & Reed, 2002;Wolfe & Hirsch, 2003). ...
Article
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The high prevalence of child maltreatment requires innovative, scaleable solutions. Three community-wide surveys (2012, 2013, and 2016) in Touwsranten, South Africa, assessed parents’ positive parenting and corporal punishment; their mental health, substance misuse, parenting stress and intimate partner violence; children’s mental health; and interest in parenting support, in preparation for an intervention to support positive parenting. The first two surveys followed parents longitudinally. Focus group discussions were also held in 2017. Across surveys one and two, corporal punishment and positive parenting were reported as frequent. Child and parent mental health problems, parenting stress, intimate partner violence, and risky alcohol use increased across surveys 1 and 2 and remained steady at the third survey. Survey 3 revealed no change in corporal punishment, parent or child mental health, or intimate partner violence; reports of risky alcohol use and parenting stress increased; and there was a small increase in use of positive parenting strategies. Qualitative data suggested that corporal punishment, alcohol use, and intimate partner violence may have been under-reported. Parents indicated a desire for parenting support. The consequent intervention design included the delivery of four parenting programs alongside a social activation process intended to amplify the message of parenting programs, with the intention of increasing positive parenting and reducing corporal punishment community-wide.
... In a literature review done by Betsy Mann (2006), she concluded that parenting programmes does have an effect on the knowledge, behaviour, attitudes and values of parents and that the intervention contributes to better developmental outcomes for children. In a review of two studies on parenting education programmes, Wolf and Hirsch (2003) found that their programme participants reported improved parenting attitudes as well as a reduction of parenting stress. They also reported a willingness to use a more authoritative parenting style and practice. ...
... Besides, this study found that maladaptive emotionfocused coping was related to greater anxiety at a low level of paternal authoritative parenting. In this light, parent education programs that promote authoritative parenting practices (Wolfe & Hirsch, 2003) may be efficacious in reducing anxiety in children, especially those children with dysfunctional emotion regulation styles. ...
Article
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This one-year longitudinal study examined the potential buffering role of authoritative parenting in the relationship between maladaptive emotion-focused coping and anxiety in children. Participants were 128 preadolescent children (41.4% female) aged between 10 and 14 years (M = 12.15, SD = 1.30) in Hong Kong. The results of the latent moderated structural equations model revealed that T1 paternal authoritative parenting significantly moderated the association between T1 maladaptive emotion-focused coping and T2 anxiety while controlling for T1 anxiety, such that the association was weaker when T1 paternal authoritative parenting was higher. T1 maladaptive emotion-focused coping was positively related to T2 anxiety when T1 paternal authoritative parenting was low. This relationship was not significant when T1 paternal authoritative parenting was medium or high. Unexpectedly, the moderating role of T1 maternal authoritative parenting was not significant. These findings suggest that paternal authoritative parenting may function as a protective factor that ameliorates the unfavorable impact of maladaptive emotion-focused coping on anxiety in children.
... In addition to its widespread use in research, PSI-SF is widely used as a clinical tool for identifying parents who need counseling services, thus helping them to conduct family interventions and helping them to evaluate the program. Although the PSI-SF has been applied to a variety of studies [17,18], few investigators have examined its psychometric integrity. Further study across various groups with different characteristics is necessary to confirm its validity. ...
Article
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric characteristics of the Korean Parenting Stress Index Short Form (K-PSI-SF) for mothers of children with cerebral palsy (CP) by using a Rasch analysis. The participants were 114 mothers of children with CP whose ages ranged from 2.79 to 11.90 years. The K-PSI-SF consists of 36 items, with a 5-point Likert scale grading along three subscales (Parent Distress, Parent–Child Dysfunctional Interaction, and Difficult Child). The response data were analyzed, and we determined the item fitness and item difficulty, rating scale fit, and separation index. The results show that two items did not have the required fitness. After these two items were deleted, the means of the 34 items in two of the subscales were statistically different from those of the original 36 items. Our analysis of the item difficulty identified the need to add easier question items. The 5-point Likert scale used in the questionnaire was found to be appropriate. This significance of this study is that it suggested the need to modify item fitness and difficulty level, as it identified the psychometric characteristics of the K-PSI-SF through a Rasch analysis based on the item response theory.
... A larger sample size would have been particularly helpful with respect to the use of some less-established scales in this study. While specific guidelines concerning a minimum sample size for scale construction vary (see, e.g., DeVellis, 2016;MacCallum et al., 1999), a small sample size can be problematic because it might limit the reliability of data and the statistical power to identify effects (Wolfe and Hirsch, 2003). Thus, five expert interviews were conducted as part of a preliminary qualitative study to provide a more detailed understanding of the relationship between strategic foresight and firms' dynamic capabilities. ...
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Increasing environmental uncertainty poses significant challenges for organizations. Although scholars generally agree that companies require dynamic capabilities to flexibly respond to and shape uncertain environments, only little empirical research has been conducted on the factors that facilitate the development of these capabilities. This study addresses this gap and introduces strategic foresight as an important antecedent of firms’ dynamic capabilities. The paper investigates the impact of strategic foresight on two distinct types of dynamic capabilities, namely strategic flexibility and decision rationality, and how the influence of strategic foresight is moderated by the degree of environmental uncertainty. We test our hypotheses by adopting a mixed-methods approach, using both qualitative information gathered trough five expert interviews, as well as survey data collected from 79 managers familiar with strategic foresight practices. The obtained results indicate a significant positive impact of strategic foresight on firms’ strategic flexibility and decision rationality. Furthermore, this study finds that environmental uncertainty strengthens the positive effect of strategic foresight on strategic flexibility. Contributions to strategic foresight research and managerial practice for firms trying to cope with continuously increasing levels of environmental uncertainty are discussed.
... In a literature review done by Betsy Mann (2006), she concluded that parenting programmes does have an effect on the knowledge, behaviour, attitudes and values of parents and that the intervention contributes to better developmental outcomes for children. In a review of two studies on parenting education programmes, Wolf and Hirsch (2003) found that their programme participants reported improved parenting attitudes as well as a reduction of parenting stress. They also reported a willingness to use a more authoritative parenting style and practice. ...
Article
The present study explored how an intervention programme for fathers contributed to child and family well-being. Using a qualitative research methodology the authors conducted 20 interviews with 10 mothers and 10 children of fathers who had attended an intervention programme for fathers. A semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect the data through face-to-face interviews. The data analysis was conducted by means of a thematic analysis. All ethical considerations were adhered to by ensuring the confidentiality and anonymity of participants. The following themes were found in the study: Child–parent relationships, Fathers Involvement in childcare and well-being. The study revealed that (1) the intervention contributed to the well-being of children and their families; (2) involvement of fathers in the lives of their children increased post the intervention; (3) fathers’ communication skills improved; (4) they were more involved in unpaid care and (5) spousal relationships improved with less conflict in their relationships.
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This Cochrane‐Campbell systematic review examines the effects of group‐based parenting programmes on parents' psychosocial health. The review summarise findings from 48 studies conducted in various countries and settings including the USA, Canada, Australia, U.K., China, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and The Netherlands. The participants were adult parents with the parental responsibility for day‐to‐day care of children. A total of 4,937 participants were included in the studies. What are the main results? Parent training has positive short‐term effects on depression, anxiety, stress, anger, guilt, confidence and partner satisfaction. There was no effect on self‐esteem and none of the trials reported on aggression or adverse effects. However, after six months there are positive effects on only two outcomes (stress and confidence), and after one year there are no significant effects on any outcomes. The data refer primarily to mothers as there are limited data on fathers. Only one meta‐analysis was conducted for fathers, showing a statistically significant short‐term improvement in parental stress. There was no significant different in effects according to the type of programme or intervention duration. Abstract BACKGROUND Parental psychosocial health can have a significant effect on the parent‐child relationship, with consequences for the later psychological health of the child. Parenting programmes have been shown to have an impact on the emotional and behavioural adjustment of children, but there have been no reviews to date of their impact on parental psychosocial wellbeing. OBJECTIVES To address whether group‐based parenting programmes are effective in improving parental psychosocial wellbeing (for example, anxiety, depression, guilt, confidence). SEARCH METHODS We searched the following databases on 5 December 2012: CENTRAL (2011, Issue 4), MEDLINE (1950 to November 2011), EMBASE (1980 to week 48, 2011), BIOSIS (1970 to 2 December 2011), CINAHL (1982 to November 2011), PsycINFO (1970 to November week 5, 2011), ERIC (1966 to November 2011), Sociological Abstracts (1952 to November 2011), Social Science Citation Index (1970 to 2 December 2011), metaRegister of Controlled Trials (5 December 2011), NSPCC Library (5 December 2011). We searched ASSIA (1980 to current) on 10 November 2012 and the National Research Register was last searched in 2005. SELECTION CRITERIA We included randomised controlled trials that compared a group‐based parenting programme with a control condition and used at least one standardised measure of parental psychosocial health. Control conditions could be waiting‐list, no treatment, treatment as usual or a placebo. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS At least two review authors extracted data independently and assessed the risk of bias in each study. We examined the studies for any information on adverse effects. We contacted authors where information was missing from trial reports. We standardised the treatment effect for each outcome in each study by dividing the mean difference in post‐intervention scores between the intervention and control groups by the pooled standard deviation. RESULTS We included 48 studies that involved 4937 participants and covered three types of programme: behavioural, cognitive‐behavioural and multimodal. Overall, we found that group‐based parenting programmes led to statistically significant short‐term improvements in depression (standardised mean difference (SMD) ‐0.17, 95% confidence interval (CI) ‐0.28 to ‐0.07), anxiety (SMD ‐0.22, 95% CI ‐0.43 to ‐0.01), stress (SMD ‐0.29, 95% CI ‐0.42 to ‐0.15), anger (SMD ‐0.60, 95% CI ‐1.00 to ‐0.20), guilt (SMD ‐0.79, 95% CI ‐1.18 to ‐0.41), confidence (SMD ‐0.34, 95% CI ‐0.51 to ‐0.17) and satisfaction with the partner relationship (SMD ‐0.28, 95% CI ‐0.47 to ‐0.09). However, only stress and confidence continued to be statistically significant at six month follow‐up, and none were significant at one year. There was no evidence of any effect on self‐esteem (SMD ‐0.01, 95% CI ‐0.45 to 0.42). None of the trials reported on aggression or adverse effects. The limited data that explicitly focused on outcomes for fathers showed a statistically significant short‐term improvement in paternal stress (SMD ‐0.43, 95% CI ‐0.79 to ‐0.06). We were unable to combine data for other outcomes and individual study results were inconclusive in terms of any effect on depressive symptoms, confidence or partner satisfaction. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS The findings of this review support the use of parenting programmes to improve the short‐term psychosocial wellbeing of parents. Further input may be required to ensure that these results are maintained. More research is needed that explicitly addresses the benefits for fathers, and that examines the comparative effectiveness of different types of programme along with the mechanisms by which such programmes bring about improvements in parental psychosocial functioning. Plain language summary PARENT TRAINING FOR IMPROVING PARENTAL PSYCHOSOCIAL HEALTH Parental psychosocial health can have a significant effect on the parent‐child relationship, with consequences for the later psychological health of the child. Some parenting programmes aim to improve aspects of parental wellbeing and this review specifically looked at whether group‐based parenting programmes are effective in improving any aspects of parental psychosocial health (for example, anxiety, depression, guilt, confidence). We searched electronic databases for randomised controlled trials in which participants had been allocated to an experimental or a control group, and which reported results from at least one scientifically standardised measure of parental psychosocial health. We included a total of 48 studies that involved 4937 participants and covered three types of programme: behavioural, cognitive‐behavioural and multimodal. Overall, the results suggested statistically significant improvements in the short‐term for parental depression, anxiety, stress, anger, guilt, confidence and satisfaction with the partner relationship. However, only stress and confidence continued to be statistically significant at six month follow‐up, and none were significant at one year. There was no evidence of effectiveness for self‐esteem at any time point. None of the studies reported aggression or adverse outcomes. Only four studies reported the outcomes for fathers separately. These limited data showed a statistically significant short‐term improvement in paternal stress but did not show whether the parenting programmes were helpful in terms of improving depressive symptoms, confidence or partner satisfaction. This review shows evidence of the short‐term benefits of parenting programmes on depression, anxiety, stress, anger, guilt, confidence and satisfaction with the partner relationship. The findings suggest that further input may be needed to support parents to maintain these benefits. However, more research is needed that explicitly addresses the benefits for fathers, and that provides evidence of the comparative effectiveness of different types of programme and identifies the mechanisms involved in bringing about change.
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