How to Evaluate Parenting Programs

A guide for selecting parenting programs for parents of teenagers

by

Ronald Polland, Ph.D.

1998

Chapter 1: Introduction

OBJECTIVES:

to learn the characteristics of parenting programs to compare programs on these characteristics

WHY THE FOCUS ON PARENTING PROGRAMS?

What weve learned from the community During the months of April and May, 1997,. The staff of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention grant conducted focus groups, interviews and community forums with residents and key informants in five neighborhoods. We asked them to cite the reasons why they felt teens were getting pregnant and what can be done to keep them from getting pregnant. Over and over we heard them say how important it was for good relationships to exist between parents and their kids and for parents to have positive influences in their childrens lives. Issues about discipline arose quite frequency. For example parents are hesitant to punish their teens too harshly not knowing if they will claim abuse and turn them in by calling HRS or 911. Consequently, parents feel that teens get away with a lot of misbehavior. Parents said that they would like some more ideas on how to discipline their teens. The punishment parents most often use with teens is taking away their phone or keeping them in the house. Parents say that these punishments are effective with some teens but not with others. Teens say that they only are effective for a short time. Parents talked about how the world is so different now from times past. When they were growing up, parents said that other adults in their neighborhood used to watch over them and either chastise them directly or report them to their parents. Nowadays, everyone is afraid to say anything about someone elses child for fear of being told to mind their own business. Because of this, parents feel that teens do as they please when they are not with them and there is none around to correct them. Parents, teens and community leaders remarked that being too strict can also be a problem in addition to being too lenient. Some parents may either misunderstand or not be unaware of the influences that peers have on their teens when they are not with them. Sometimes very permissible parents allow their teens to mingle with groups having undesirable traits while some very strict parents prohibit their teens from interacting with groups having positive traits. On the other side of the coin, teens feel that parents try to control them too much but they accept being disciplined if they feel it is deserved. In fact, teens perceive discipline as a sign of caring. For that reason, teens feel that parents who are too submissive really do not care about them. The literature also supports the idea that teens are more likely to engage in sexual behavior when their parents are either too restrictive or too submissive. What weve learned from research There is very little supervision of teenagers after school, during school breaks, and during summer vacation in the target neighborhoods. According to Franklin (1988), Sexual intercourse among adolescents is more likely to occur during the day in the homes of parents who are at work than in any other setting. The vast majority of teens in the target neighborhoods live in single-parent households where increased family stress, lowered self-esteem among teens and their single parents, lack

of parent-child communication all contribute to adolescents being more susceptible to engaging in sexual activity (Lempers, Clark-Lempers, and Simons, 1989; McLanahan, Sorensen, and Watson, 1989). Teens who became pregnant in the target population reported a lack of lack of warmth, affection, or love from their parents. According to Scherman and McCulloch (1991). rejection by a significant other may lead adolescents to seek relationships outside the family to bolster their sense of self-worth and thereby influence a teenager to engage in sexual activity which increases the likelihood of pregnancy. Teens in the target neighborhoods who reported that they do not have early sex or have a desire to avoid pregnancy have good relationships with their parents, have a father or other influential male in the household, attend church and after-school activities regularly, and have definite career plans for the future.

WHAT PARENTING PROGRAMS ARE DESIGNED TO DO

Myths and misconceptions about parenting programs They are only for people who do not know anything about parenting. Being the parent of a teen has never been easy but now it can seem like the most difficult job anyone could ever have! Times have changed and so have teens. Teens are a lot more complex than in times' past. Ask any parent and they will tell you that they could use a little help in raising their teens to be healthy and responsible adults. All parents can find something of value in parenting programs. They provide practical and timely advice to all parents who want to keep pace with their ever-changing teen. They are only for parents who have bad kids. We hear so much about bad kids on TV and the news that sometimes it seems like this whole generation of kids have gone astray. The truth is that the vast majority of todays teens are really good kids. However, even good kids and great parents can run into problems. Perfect children and perfect families only exist in movies and on television. Parenting programs recognize this fact and are designed to offer sound, practical advice for the majority of parents and the majority of kids. Parenting programs understand that families who have teens with multiple problems require more help than what they can provide. For that reason, they routinely assist families and teens to find the additional help they need. They are mainly for parents who have young kids or babies. If it seems like most of the books and programs on parenting deal with young kids and babies, you are right. One reason is because the early years of a childs life are the most important for establishing a sound foundation. The other reason is because working with (and writing about) young kids and babies is a whole lot easier than doing the same for teens. Think about it. Babies and young kids do not have sex. They do not get pregnant. They do not drive cars. They do not smoke, drink nor do drugs. They do not hang out with gangs. They do not have a tenth of the problems that teens face. Parents of teens need parenting programs, too, but not the same kind of programs that are meant for parents of young kids and babies. Finding programs specifically designed for parents of teens is not that easy. This is why we developed this document to help parents of teens locate and evaluate the relatively fewer numbers of age-appropriate parenting programs. They are not in touch with reality. As much as we would like to return to a better time, we can never turn back the clock. The reality is that the 90s (soon to be the 00s?) will never be like the 50s. Unlike the 1950s where two-parent households were the norm, the majority of households today are headed by a single parent. Apparently, some parenting programs and books have not caught on to this trend. Some still talk as if every teen had a father and a mother present in the home. Fortunately, there are parenting programs that do not make this assumption. These programs recognize that, in the real world, the mother is usually the only parent in the home. Furthermore, these programs also know that single moms have multiple kids to take care of and multiple responsibilities to fulfill. Good parenting programs are ones that are both reality-based and up-to-date on what is happening with todays families and teens. A quick way to judge whether a parenting program is in touch with reality is to see when it was originally developed and when it was last revised. If it is out-of-date, it is probably out-of-touch as well. They do not affirm my cultural values Most authors tend to write about the culture they know best. Because it is the predominant culture in this country, most authors of parenting programs and books write about white, middle-class families. As a result, some parenting programs may not be sensitive to the cultural differences of minority populations. In the past ten years, there has been a rapid movement towards making parenting programs more culturally relevant to different populations. Parenting programs that have been around for several decades are slow to change but they are improving. More authors are paying attention to how different cultures raise their kids and are adapting their programs to match. They treat parents like they were kids in school Most parenting programs are educational programs. Some educational programs have been adapted from school-based programs. Some educational programs are often taught by school teachers (who may be more used to working with kids than with adults). These programs could cause parents to feel as if they are back in school that may not be a good thing. As you will learn, there are different types of parenting programs. Not all parenting programs are educational programs and not all educational programs are like classes in high school. Some are like self-study. Some are like support groups. Some are like counseling sessions. More importantly, though, good parenting programs are written for adult parents of all educational levels and are taught or led by other parents used to working with adults. Good parenting programs never make parents feel like kids. They take too much time to complete There is an old saying that goes, You get out of it what you put into it. Except for a few programs that are mandated by the courts, parenting programs are totally voluntary. This means that if you want to go only for one time, you can. Some programs are set up that way where you are welcome to stay for as long (or as little) as you feel you need to stay. Thats the good news. The bad news is that you may miss something you need you learn if you do not stay long enough. The parenting of teens covers a wide range of attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Parenting of teens involves far more than just picking up a few tricks. Typically parenting programs cover such things as improving parent-child communication, setting limits, teaching responsibility, encouraging self-esteem, promoting values, and facing a whole host of challenges from teenage sexuality to drug and alcohol abuse. These are areas that take some time to cover effectively. Parenting programs may run for several weeks or months at a time and last anywhere from one to two hours per session for up to twelve sessions.

Some parents, when asked if they have ever been in a parenting program before, may answer, Yes I have and I did not find it helpful. On closer examination, one may find that these parents did not attend their programs long enough to get out of them what they needed to know and to practice. They think spanking is child abuse or tell parents they cant spank their kids No parenting program promotes the idea that spanking is child abuse. When done in the heat of anger, spanking often does lead to physical abuse. While spanking may be appropriate for some young kids, most social workers, doctors, and psychologists will tell you that physical punishment is not appropriate for teens. Rather than having it escalate into abuse (or, in some cases, result in retaliation by the teen), parenting programs discourage the use of spanking as a method of discipline. Instead, parenting programs offer parents several alternatives to spanking. Sometimes, these alternatives are not as quick and easy to apply as a good whipping, but neither will they be potentially damaging to the teen either physically, emotionally or psychologically. They do not work The research says otherwise. Not only do parenting programs work, they often create dramatic improvements in the lives of families. Parenting programs have been around for fifty years and the reason for their longevity is because they do help parents cope with their kids. Parenting is one of the most important roles we can have yet, we have to learn about it on our own without formal training. What we know about parenting comes from the direct experience with our parents as kids. Some of what worked for us when we were kids will also work for our own kids. On the other hand, some of what worked for us will not work for our kids. Effective parenting programs provide a range of ideas (both new and old) that have been tested and proven to work with todays teens. Like any new skill, practice makes perfect. Parenting programs encourage but cannot control how often a parent will practice putting new skills into use. Again, what you get out of it is what you put into it. Types of parenting programs and their focus Educational programs The primary emphasis in parent education programs is knowledge and skill development. Educational programs are organized into a series of lessons covering different topics of parenting. Participants are generally required to complete all of the lessons although not necessarily in one specific sequence. Some programs have modular lessons meaning that each lesson can stand alone and be given in any order. A central feature of educational programs is the presence of a trained instructor to teach the lessons. Support groups The primary emphasis in parent support groups is providing opportunities for parents to share ideas, concerns, and receive feedback and support from other parents in a open group setting. Unlike educational programs, there are no pre-arranged lessons. Also, unlike educational programs,. parents select the topics they wish to discuss when they want to discuss them. In some programs, parents alternate assuming the role of group facilitator instead of having a single person be the facilitator throughout. While support groups may require parents to stay with the group for a period of time, there are no requirements that parents attend every session. Self-help guides Self-help guides are basically books that cover a wide range of parenting subjects. They may be organized like the textbooks used in educational programs or they may be more narrative in nature. The guides explore common problems and present suggestions for solving them. The guides are sources of reference for parents needing advice on general parenting issues or on specific ones. Self-directed instruction Self-directed instruction are essentially educational programs without an instructor and a group. These are programs designed for individual parents to use on their own and at their own pace. They are usually text-based supported by audio and video materials. Some newer programs have parents interacting with a personal computer.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A PARENTING PROGRAM

Clearly stated goals and objectives Good programs have clearly stated goals and measurable objectives. Participants should know ahead of time what a program expects of them, and, in turn, what they can expect a program to provide. Overall design and versatility of the program Programs may range from a series of structured, educational classes to open-ended support group meetings. If the program is a series of classes, find out if the classes are part of a sequence -- meaning, do future classes require completion of prior classes, or can students take them out of order? What happens if a person skips a class? If the program consists of group meetings, find out if each meeting deals with different topics or if future meetings continue discussions held in subsequent ones. Do the group and instructor decide topics in advance, or do they suggest topics when the group meets? If group meetings occur in no particular order and they are independent of one another, then how does a person decide which meetings and how many to attend? Number of sessions and length of each session The more time a program spends with its participants, the more likely it will have a lasting effect on them. This is because new learning requires opportunities for practice and feedback. Changes do not come overnight and without support. Continued contact is essential to developing a trusting relationship between parents and the program. Look for programs that offer a sufficient number of sessions (at least eleven) with definite meeting dates and times, and that last at least an hour in length. Use of supporting information and media Learning involves all of the human senses -- especially sight and sound. Effective programs make use of graphically illustrated books and handouts to explain and reinforce important concepts. Programs may also use audio tapes videotapes, slides and films to demonstrate how persons may put these concepts into practice. Some of the newer programs employ laserdiscs and computers to present pictures, text and sound. Quality of the instructor or group leader

Whether the program is an educational class or a support group, a good instructor or group leader is an essential part. A good instructor or group leader will: encourage and facilitate group discussion; be nonjudgmental, flexible and empathetic; reinforce participation and input; be culturally sensitive to participants of the group or class, and know how to make parenting skills more effective. Breadth and depth of the parenting skills discussed Parenting skills may range from knowing helpful hints like how to make phone use a reward to dealing with a teen that uses drugs. Parenting skills include cognitive skills (knowledge, concepts, beliefs, values); decision-making skills (planning, problem-solving) and affective skills (social interaction, communication and emotion). A good program will offer parents ways of acquiring all of these skills. Opportunities for feedback and group interaction Participants who take an active role in discussions and in group activities learn more because they feel they are a part of the process and have ownership in it. Learning is an active process and programs should encourage parents to ask questions and receive feedback at any time. Opportunities to practice skills that are learned Because all new learning requires practice to make it permanent, programs need to provide opportunities to practice learned skills. Role plays and other learn-by-doing activities not only meet that need, they also serve to make the skills learned more relevant and meaningful to parents. In addition, practice does not have to involve physical activity. Thought exercises and self-assessments allow parents to see how to integrate what they are learning into what they already know. A program should also provide enough time for practice as well as spacing the practice to avoid overwhelming parents with too much to soon. Integration of new learning into existing ideas and beliefs Programs that relate new ideas to existing ideas and beliefs make learning faster, easier and more meaningful. Programs can do this by using common, real-life examples, stories, analogies and other simulations, and by inviting participants to relate their own experiences. Appropriateness for target audience In teaching parenting skills, one size does not fit all. For parenting to be meaningful, it has to be culturally relevant to the parents -- that is, the subjects and examples have to correspond to the parents' reality. This also means that the program should also be educationally relevant in that participants will receive material that is appropriate for parents with different reading and comprehension abilities. A program should match the timing, pace and quality of information to the needs and expectations of its audience. Too much presented too fast is as bad as too little too late. Accessibility Transportation is a major barrier to parents. Programs that are in or near a parent's neighborhood will be easier to attend than programs requiring travel. Since many parents work at night or on weekends, programs should be flexible in their schedule. Parents should have an opportunity to attend on days and times that do not conflict with parents' work schedules will be easier to attend.

WHAT MAKES FOR EFFECTIVE PARENTING PROGRAMS?

Reaching parents "where they are at" Successful parenting programs give parents an opportunity to learn new information and skills that fit with their existing beliefs about parenting and communication. Programs that allow parents to relate new ideas with existing ideas and beliefs will have better results than programs that treat parents as "blank slates." According to recent research, almost 90 percent of the beliefs that parents say they have about how their teen learns fall into one of four categories: teens learn through thinking and reasoning, considering options and weighing consequences; teens learn from being told what to do, from explanations or advice; teens learn through experiencing success, approval, and support; and teens learn through being punished or criticized for behavior. The beliefs that parents have about parenting and teen development reflect their deeply held values and stem from many sources including those outside of the home such as: cultural values and traditions; socioeconomic status; work, and social networks of relatives, friends, and neighbors; and, including those within the home such as: 1. 2. 3. 4. characteristics of parents; characteristics of the teen; developmental history of teens, and familial relationship.

Involving and empowering parents in the program Parent involvement is a key part of a successful parenting program. Getting parents to discuss their own personal experiences is a good way to have them think about their own ideas and beliefs about parenting. Long-term, parent discussion groups are an effective means for changing values and teaching styles. Discussion empowers mothers who are socially and geographically isolated to "have a voice" and become more actively engaged in thinking about and changing their relationships with their teens. Even informal

exchanges of ideas among parents can offer them new insights into their existing knowledge, beliefs, and practices. Making the program culturally and socially relevant Critics of "typical" parent education programs feel they disregard the existing beliefs and practices of a community and try to impose the dominant, middle-class cultural standards of parenting. One way a program can avoid pressuring parents to change is to use respectful and sensitive professional educators and group leaders who are aware of the social, financial, and emotional stresses that parents have. These educators and leaders will work with parents in a collaborative way -- instead of in a directive way. Putting parenting in the context of interpersonal relationships Too often, programs focus on parenting apart from other aspects of family life and individual social behavior. Parenting has more to do with interpersonal relationship skills (such as communication) than it does with specific skills in discipline and child-rearing. Parenting programs should focus on tailoring new information and skills to the quality of the parent-child relationship and to the cultural, social, financial, and emotional realities. Making parenting an ongoing process After evaluating twenty parenting programs, researchers concluded that the number of contacts with parents determines a programs effectiveness. Programs should have eleven or more contacts with parents over a period of three months or more. The longer contact is essential to developing a trusting relationship between parents and the program.

Chapter 2: Parenting Programs and Other Parent Resources

OBJECTIVES: to review local and national parenting programs to compare local and national programs

LOCAL PARENTING PROGRAMS

Active Parenting Of Teens The Children's Home Society of North Florida offers this program as a six-week course, one class per week, with each class lasting for two hours. The program is mainly for parents ordered by the court to take a parenting class. The program consists of six sessions with two chapters per session: The Active Parent Instilling Courage and Self-Esteem Developing Responsibility Winning Cooperation through The Challenge of Alcohol and Other Parenting and Teen Sexuality The program uses of a handbook and a series of short video segments showing interactions between parents and teens. The program relies heavily on the experience of the instructor to explain the concepts to various audiences and provide real-life examples of putting parenting skills into practice. Teening-Up with Your Adolescent: Parenting Children Ages 10-16 The Florida Extension Service presents this program and it consists of seven sessions, ranging from 60 to 90 minutes each, spanning four to seven weeks. Participants for this course were social service personnel who work with parents. The program a mixture of didactic teaching and participant exercises to help parents develop communication and negotiation skills that are critical for preparing an adolescent child for adulthood. The program relies on everyday situations and problems that parents encounter when raising an adolescent. The program has the following sessions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Introductions, Identifying Problem Areas Times of Transition Communication with Adolescents Dating, Sex, Drugs, and Alcohol Parenting Through Empowerment Expectations, Handling Mistakes, and Using Rules and Discipline More Difficult Problems

Community Education and Counseling These are a series of programs that provide health and sexuality education throughout Duval and Nassau Counties to teens, parents, and adults (from 5th grade through senior citizens). Programs include workshops on postponing sexual involvement, puberty education, anger control, and AIDS. The Bridge of Northeast Florida, Inc., provides counseling for both youth and families. AWARE The AWARE (Armed With Accurate Reliable Education) Program provides pregnancy responsibility education to children (aged 10-17) on the consequences of becoming pregnant and on the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases. The program provides group education arranged upon request. There are no fees and the area served includes the following five counties: Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, and St. Johns. The Childbirth Education Association (C.E.A.) of Jacksonville sponsors the AWARE Program. Childrens Home Society The Childrens Home Society (C.H.S.) of Florida offers Parenting Education courses on a number of topics of interest. For example, C.H.S. offers basic parenting, parenting the adoptive child and the special-needs child, and infant awareness. C.H.S. provides specialized parent education for the Florida Department of Children and Families clients. Workshops and seminars are also part of the program. The area served includes the following counties: Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Nassau, and Union. ParentLink and The Parent Network of Florida, Inc Parentlink is the name of the Jacksonville chapter of Parents Anonymous. The parent support group meets weekly. Parents help one another deal with the challenges of parenting

and to make raising their children a rewarding, positive experience. Parents lead the group with the assistance of a professional facilitator. The Exchange Club Family Center provides the ParentLink support services. The Parent Network of Florida, Inc. (formerly Parents Anonymous) is a statewide program that provides support and encouragement for parents dealing with the stress of parenting. The Network is a place where parents can freely discuss difficulties in raising children. The Network provides alternatives to corporal punishment, effective parenting strategies, and a network of parents to assist each other. The Parent Helpline provides telephone counseling to parents with parenting questions or problems. Any adult in a parenting role, such as a parent, foster parent, or grandparent, is eligible for services. The Exchange Club Family Center offers support services in Northeast Florida. Parents Support Group and Classes The Childrens Home Society (CHS) of Florida offers parents an opportunity to come together in a confidential setting to share ideas, problems, and solutions in raising the children of today. CHS provides classes for parents of infants, toddlers, school-age children, teenagers, special-needs and adopted children. CHS has additional curricula for single parents, working parents, and parents referred by the courts or the Florida Department of Children and Families. The area served includes the following four counties: Baker, Clay, Duval, and Nassau. Parents Support Group and Classes are offered through the Childrens Home Society (C.H.S.) of Florida.

NATIONAL PARENTING PROGRAMS

STEP/Teen Revised STEP/Teen is organized into seven sessions and address the following issues: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Understanding Yourself and Your Teenager Changing Your Response to Your Teen Communicating Respect and Encouragement Encouraging Cooperation and Solving Problems Using Consequences to Build Responsibility Deciding What to Do-Part I Deciding What to Do-Part II

STEP/Teen's handbook for parents, Parenting Teenagers, includes topics on encouragement, consequences, the goals of behavior, single parents, stepfamilies, homework, drugs, violence, and gangs. STEP/Teen features three videos using situations that offer parents opportunities to view and discuss STEP/Teen techniques in action. The STEP/Teen leader's materials come in a three-ring binder with detailed session guides and information on group leadership. Parenting Adolescents This program is a three-part series (30 minutes each) that provides parents of teenagers aged 12 through 16 with helpful tips on making this time period easier for everyone involved. The first program, "Stages of Development," provides a general overview of different topics such as drug use, sex and violence, and peer pressure. "Communication," the second program, focuses on one of the greatest challenges confronted by families during adolescence. "Independence/Bicultural Kids," the final program, demonstrates how parents can guide teenagers on seeking independence and focuses on how to improve parent-teen relations in bicultural households. The series is a result of a collaborative effort between the City of Seattle, Seattle Public Schools, KCTS/9, and Seafirst Bank. Common Ground for Parents and Teens Common Ground is a course for creating cooperation and mutual respect between parents and their teens. What is unique about this course, is that both parents and their teenagers attend the sessions together. Skills learned in this course apply to all relationships: teens with their peers, their significant others, adults with their peers, their spousal relationships, and their coworkers. Common Ground runs for two and one-half hours over a six-week period. Participants practice hands-on techniques through role-playing and group interaction. Each week the parents and teenagers take home an assignment to practice and record it in their handbooks. Parenting Without Pressure This is a guide for parents that teaches them how to talk with their teenagers about sex. The "I Hear" Checklist acts as mechanism for parents who establish open lines of communication about sex. Furthermore, Parenting Without Pressure stresses how important it is for parents to listen when talking to their teens and really hear what they are saying. Parenting Without Pressure encourages parents to be informed, be honest, be early, be available and askable, and be realistic about sex and sexuality. Everybodys Doing It Much of the information contained in Everybodys Doing It: How to Survive Your Teenagers Sex Life (And Help Them to Survive It, Too) is based upon discussions with both adolescents and adults, as well as, interviews with experts. The authors suggest broad approaches for parents who want to share information with their children and teenagers about sex and sexuality. Some of the topics mentioned in the book include: normal curiosity, learning gender roles, sexual development and education, on-going parental involvement, and the parent as teacher. The Bowdoin Method The Bowdoin Method consists of a curriculum developed for parents of children aged birth to 13. This program affords parents with confidence in educating their children, better communication skills, and a greater understanding of the emotional, social, and intellectual needs of their children. The Bowdoin Method provides parents with skills, attitudes, and knowledge to assist their children in achieving success in both school and life. Helping Teenagers into Adulthood Helping Teenagers into Adulthood: A Guide for the Next Generation is a resource that provides parents and other caregivers with strategies to move teenagers successfully through the period of adolescence. This guide encourages that prevention of adolescent catastrophes occur through three major methods: information, communication, and education. Growing up FAST: Families and Adolescents Surviving and Thriving This program focuses on improving family strengths and capabilities. It addresses what it means to become a successful adult in the adolescent's family and what the adolescent is already doing to support this definition of successful adulthood. A program facilitator leads the adolescent and their parent(s) through a single session to address specific program goals and to present program content. The facilitator prompts family participants to recognize how certain topic areas contribute to their definitions of successful adulthood.

The Adolescent Transitions Program (ATP) This program has two separate curricula that an instructor can present individually to either parents or adolescents. "Parent Focus" is the parent curriculum and contains information and activities aimed at improving parenting skills. The adolescent curriculum "Teen Focus" contains information and activities on improving social interactions with both parents and peers. These components originate from social learning theory, which focuses on positive behavior change in the parents' family management and parent-child communications skills. The trained group leader and his assistant conduct separate parent and adolescent groups. Parents and/or adolescents participate in 12 weekly sessions for 90 minutes each and information presented by the group leader, videotape, and by group participants. Five videotapes assist parents in enhancing family-management skills, and five tapes help teens with skills related to self-regulation and peer and parent relationships. Parenting Adolescents Wisely This is an interactive video-based program for families whose children are at risk for delinquency, substance abuse and involvement with the juvenile justice system. The program targets children from early elementary to high school age. It presents parents with information on communication skills, problem solving skills, assertive discipline, chore compliance, homework compliance, and supervising children associating with deviant peers. This is a self-directed, interactive program that uses a computer-controlled laser video disk to teach parenting skills. Video vignettes describe nine common parenting problems. After each segment, the program asks parents how they would respond to each problem. Parents then see the response they chose and the impact of that response played out in a video segment. Iowa Strengthening Families Program for Families with Pre- and Early Teens The program primarily serves families with 10-14 year olds living in rural areas who are at risk for behavior problems and substance abuse. Intermediate objectives include improved skills in nurturing and child management by parents, and improved interpersonal and personal skills in youth. The ISFP has two-hour sessions for parents and youth, who each attend separate skill-building groups for the first hour and spend the second hour together in supervised family activities. The Parent Project The design of the program is to meet the needs of working parents and the workplace environment to address issues in effective substance abuse prevention. The goals of the program are to enrich family relationships and promote healthy environments that build resistance to social and personal dysfunction. The program includes components for parents with children of the following ages: birth to four years old, elementary school age, and adolescents. At each developmental level, the program addresses issues such as communication skills, peer pressure, male and female relationships, and increasing levels of responsibility for adolescents. The program is presented at lunchtime at a worksite. Workshops The Take Charge Now Process The Take Charge Now Process is a workshop developed by Bob Lancer. For over twenty years Bob has been a professional educator, consultant, public speaker and author. Bob founded Parenting Solutions in association with licensed psychologist, Dr. Steven Hamby in 1994. The primary purpose of Parenting Solutions is to provide parents with the practical information they need to bring out the best in their children and achieve true peace and harmony in their homes. The Take Charge curriculum emphasizes the following ten points. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Practice Conscious Parenting: Preserve Your "Peace-Poise-Power" At All Times: Build The Behavior You Want: Use Conscious Detachment: Use the 1-2-3 Consequence System: Choosing Consequences: Law of Reflection: Law of Perception: Give Choices: Visualize What You Want:

Books The Teenager's Guide to the Real World by Marshall Brain is a book for parents to give to their teenagers. It explains the facts of life and the rules to the game of life using stories, explanations and discussions that teenagers can really relate to and apply to their own lives immediately. The book contains topics that parents feel their teenagers should understand. The book stresses the importance of values and ethics, the significance of a good job, the sanctity of sex and marriage, the value of society's laws and rules. This book acts as a bridge that gives you and your teenager a way to start discussing these topics openly and candidly. Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers by Michael Riera is book for parents on parent-teenager relationships. However, the book uses stories and quotes from teenagers on the teen perspective to deliver its message. Both parents and teenagers can learn a lot by reading this book. The Ten Most Troublesome teenage Problems: And How to Solve Them by Lawrence Bauman, and Robert Riche, discusses the ten most common problems parents of teenagers face: responsibility, anger, lying, boredom, grades, and drugs. An insightful book that helps you understand what is going on inside the mind of a teenager. Parenting Without Pressure is a quick guide for parents that gives them suggestions on how to talk with their teenagers about sex. The "I hear" checklist acts as a mechanism for parents to establish open lines of communication about sex. PWP stresses the importance of parents being active listeners Now What Do I Do? How To Give Your Pre-Teens Your Message. This booklet can help parents teach their children about HIV/AIDS and offers basic information and guidelines for preschool children, young children, preteens, and teenagers. The booklet presents fifteen situations and asks parents to consider why each situation arose, how to respond, and what messages they want their child to receive.

Chapter 3: How to Select the Best Parenting Programs

OBJECTIVES:

to identify and discuss criteria for rating and ranking programs to learn a method for assigning importance to the criteria to use the weighted criteria to rank and select the top programs

RATING AND RANKING PROGRAM CHARACTERISTICS

The Multi-Attribute Utility Method (MAUM) Overview of the method The multiattribute utility method (MAUM) is a systematic way of rating and ranking programs that have different program characteristics. A unique feature of the MAUM is the ability to combine both quantitative (objective) and qualitative (subjective) characteristics into one scale. The first step in using the MAUM is to identify the important characteristics of parenting programs and then to arrange the individual characteristics into categories to form a value tree. The categories correspond to the main branches of the value tree. Each branch has a set of twigs which are the individual program characteristics. A picture of a completed value tree appears on the following page. Description of the Value Tree Notice that there are six branches or categories on the tree. They are 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. ORGANIZATION QUALITY & USEFULNESS GROUP INTERACTION PERSONAL FACTORS PARENT INVESTMENT SUITABILITY

Within each category are two or more individual characteristics as discussed above. Important program characteristics are known as the program criteria. For example, the last branch on the tree is the category called, Suitability, which has three important program characteristics or criteria (three twigs) previously discussed: (1) program reaches parents "where they are at"; (2) program is culturally and socially relevant, and (3) program places parenting in the context of interpersonal relationships. The purpose of putting criteria into categories is to make the job of rating and ranking them easier. Normally, in constructing a value tree, participants identify the criteria. For this workshop, however, the participants and the Evaluator will work together to create the final list of criteria. The Evaluator reviewed local and national parenting programs to identify and group the main list of criteria that make for effective parenting programs. To this list, participants will add their own. Determining relative importance The difference between Rating and Ranking In this activity you will be both ranking program criteria and rating programs on the criteria. When you rank a criteria, you give it a value that says how important that criteria is compared to other criteria. When you rate a program on a criteria, you give it a value that says how well that program meets the criteria. For example, suppose that you and five other people have to choose what kind of food to prepare for a party. The six of you decide to consider three criteria that are important to choosing what to make: 1. the food will be easy to prepare 2. the food will taste good when done 3. the food will not cost much Suppose each of you were asked to rank the three criteria by reordering them so that the one listed first is most important to you, the second one listed is the next most important and the third one listed is the least important. Putting the criteria in order of importance is called ranking the criteria. Now, suppose you also had to choose among three types of food: (1) spaghetti & sauce, (2) microwave pizza and (3) hot dogs. If you wanted to indicate how well each food type met the criteria, you could give each food a score (value) from 0 to 100 where a 0 means it does not meet the criteria and a 100 means it meets the criteria perfectly. When you assign numerical scores (values) to each food, you are rating each food on the criteria. An exercise in using a value tree Remember from the previous example, you had to choose among three types of food: (1) spaghetti & sauce, (2) microwave pizza and (3) hot dogs. For this exercise, you will indicate how well each food type meets the criteria above. However, before doing that, you need to rank the importance of the three criteria. On a sheet of paper, draw three lines. On the first line, write the criteria that you feel is the least important. On the third line, write the criteria that you feel is the most important. Finally, on the second line, write the criteria that you feel is more important than the first but not as important as the last. You might have listed the criteria as follows: 1. Easy to prepare (least important) 2. Tastes good (more important) 3. Does not cost much (most important) Now, number the lines from 1 to 3. These numbers stand for the relative importance of the criteria the higher the number, the greater is the relative importance. A group of six people were asked to rank these criteria in order of importance. The ranks were averaged and the results were as follows: Easy to prepare (2.0), Tastes good (2.6) and Does not cost much (1.4). These average ranks are then converted into percentages so that they will add up to one (or very close to it). To convert each to a percentage, the average rank is divided by the total of the ranks. The total of the ranks is 6.0 (2.0 + 2.6 + 1.4). The percentages are calculated as follows: Easy to prepare (2.0/6.0 = .33), Tastes good (2.6/6.0 = .43) and Does not cost much (1.4/6.0 = .23). These decimal values, .33, .43, and .23, are the relative importance weights for the criteria. The next step is to rate each of the food types on each of the three criteria. You will give a score anywhere from 0 to 100 for each criteria to indicate how well the food meets the

criteria. You might have scored the foods as follows: spaghetti & sauce microwave pizza hot dogs 70 90 95 80 80 85 75 65 90

1. Easy to prepare 2. Tastes good 3. Low cost

In this example, since you are doing this activity with five others, your scoring of the foods will be added to theirs and averages will be calculated. Here are the actual results (averaged food scores) for six people asked to rate these foods: spaghetti & sauce microwave pizza hot dogs 72 91 93 84 78 86 78 68 91

1. Easy to prepare 2. Tastes good 3. Low cost

The final step is to multiply the averaged food scores times the relative importance weights for the three criteria and then to add the three sets of numbers together for each of the three foods:

1. Easy to prepare 2. Tastes good 3. Low cost

TOTALS (Utility Scores)

spaghetti & sauce microwave pizza 72 x .33 91 x .33 84 x .43 78 x .43 78 x .23 68 x .23
78.6 80.0

hot dogs 93 x .33 86 x .43 91 x .23

89.5

The results indicate that hot dogs has the highest Utility Score so, on the basis of that score alone, you and your group might decide to make hot dogs for your party. Assigning importance to the branches (categories) The ranking process begins by having each participant assign a value of 1 to the main branch perceived to be lowest in importance. Then, the next most important branch is selected and a value is assigned to it that represents how much greater in importance it is relative to the lowest branch. For example, a participant may select Personal Factors as the least important branch and assign a one to it. Then the participant may select Organization as the next most important branch and assign a value of 3 to it meaning that the participant perceives Organization to be three times more important than Personal Factors. The participant is asked to pick the next most important branch and assign a value to it that represents how much greater in importance it is than the previously weighted branch. For example, the participant might select Quality & Usefulness and assign a value of 15 meaning that the participant perceives Quality & Usefulness to be three times more important than Organization ands fifteen times more important than Personal Factors. After all participants have rated the importance of each branch, they would next rate the relative importance of each twig. Relative importance values will be averaged (by calculating the median) across all participants for each branch and twig. The values will converted into normalized weights dividing the sum for each branch by the total for all branches at each level of the tree. Participants using the MAUM will assign relative importance weights to each of the criteria (twigs) and criteria categories (branches). Each program then receives a rating (from 0 to 100) on each of the criteria. Scores are generated by multiplying the individual branch and twig weights times the rating for that twig. The participants will assess the relative importance of each of the value categories and the relative importance of each criteria within each value category. Participants will assign the weights to the branches and twigs of the tree using the MAUM ratio method of ranking. Weights will be averaged across all participants. The weights are normalized as proportions so that they sum to 1 at each level of the tree. This is accomplished by dividing the sum for each branch by the total for all branches at each level of the tree. The most important criteria are at the end of the tree (twig level). Ratings (or location measures) of each program will be made on each of the values/criteria listed on the tree. All rating scales will be standardized to have a range from zero to 100. Zero represents the worst possible result and 100 represents the best possible result that a program could achieve for a given criteria. For each program, the aggregate utility scores will be compiled by multiplying the weights on the tree times the ratings from the location measurements. These products are then summed for a total aggregate score. The projects will then be rank-order according to their aggregate utility scores and the results reviewed by the participants. Assigning importance weights to the twigs (criteria) Most of the qualitative variables will yield a single score or index where the higher the index, the better the outcome. These indices will be converted to a zero to 100 scale. When all the data for this activity have been collected for all programs, the Evaluator will convert the data into utility points. Each of the will be rated on each criteria by assigning utility points from zero to 100. After assigning utility points on each criteria for each program, the next step is to calculate aggregate and subaggregate utility scores using the weights assigned to the value tree by the participants. Using the previous example, suppose that the main branch "Program organization" received a weight of .40 and the criteria twig, "Structured classes," received a weight of .30. Suppose that a program received 70 utility points on the rating measure used for the criteria, "Type of class" To calculate its subaggregate utility score, you would do the following computation: 70 (utility points on location measure) x .30 (weight for criteria twig) x .40 (weight for the main branch). To arrive at a total aggregate utility score, you would add together the subaggregate utility scores for all main branches. Assigning subjective weights to individual criteria The Evaluator will prepare tables and graphs depicting the utility scores at each level of the value tree. The programs will be ordered on the tables and graphs from highest to lowest in decreasing magnitude of utility. The participants will review and discuss the results and then select the program(s) for field testing.

REVIEW OF CRITERIA AND SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL CRITERIA

Existing criteria categories Organization Organization covers the design and layout of the materials, the goals and objectives of the program, the pacing of the program lessons, and the type and structure of the program including the number of sessions and the length of each session. Quality & Usefulness

Quality & Usefulness pertains to how well the program makes use of the media and materials, how competent is the instructor or group leader, how varied and detailed are the topics presented. Group Interaction Group Interaction deals with opportunities for feedback from the group to the instructor and among group members, opportunities to practice and demonstrate skills that are learned, and opportunities to learn by doing. Personal Factors Personal Factors involves how the program is set up to handle individual needs and accommodations. Parent Investment Parent Investment is how the program uses the input of parents to structure and modify the program. Parent investment also has to do with the continued involvement of the program with parents. Suitability Suitability is the appropriateness of the program for the population it serves. Suitability also refers to how well the program integrates parenting skills into other aspects of family life. Participant criteria categories Participants in the group will be asked to contribute their own criteria for consideration. The group leader will use the nominal group technique to elicit suggestions from the group and to reach consensus on the list.

RATING THE PROGRAMS

Performance scores Individual participants will assign performance scores on each of the criteria for the programs reviewed. This will be done independently. Averages for the scores will then be calculated. Calculating performance totals The group leader will then multiply each performance score by the criteria weight. The performance scores will then be summed across all twigs within a branch. Following summing across twigs, the performance scores will be summed across all branches. The final step is to add together all of the performance scores and calculate a total score.

RANKING THE PROGRAMS

Ranking programs on total score The group leader will arrange the programs in order of their total performance scores. The programs will then receive a numerical rank based on their scores. If there are programs with tied scores, then the group leader will assign equal ranks.

SELECTING THE TOP RANKED PROGRAMS

Identifying the top ranked programs The group leader will list the programs in order of their scores. The group will discuss other considerations for changing the rank order and how to handle programs that are tied in rank. The group will then reach consensus on the top three programs. Discussion The group will discuss the pros and cons of the top three programs and then decide on whether to select more than one program to implement Selection of programs and recommendations The group leader will take the recommendations of the group and formalize them by writing the initial Request for Proposal/Request for Assistance.