Research Initiatives
- Fathers Count - click here
- Adolescent Resiliency in Multi-Cultural Communities - click here
- Sexuality Education for Adults with Developmental Disabilities - click here
- Literacy Development and Youth Volunteerism - click here (pdf format)
- Parenting Education - read below
Interested in joining one of the research projects? Then contact me!
Implementing and Evaluating a Community-Wide Effective Parenting Campaign
The goals of parenting education are to enhance the knowledge,
ability, and confidence of parents to raise children in positive
ways.
Studies confirm that children who are effectively parented are more
socially and emotionally well-adjusted, do better in school, are
healthier and more confident, make positive contributions to community
life, and are more likely to grow into productive adults and caring
parents.
In addition,
effective parents are much less likely to abuse their children.
Since 1974, the non-profit, Center
for the Improvement of Child Caring (CICC) has been active in developing
and delivering a wide range of parenting skill-building
programs, including national model programs for African American
and Latino parents.
CICC sponsored Effective Parenting Campaigns in
the San Fernando Valley and Antelope Valley of Los Angeles County.
Goals, Objectives, and Components
These two multi-faceted
projects provided the following services for free to parents in both
Valleys each year.
- Multi-session parenting classes (4-6 classes in each Valley for 20-30
parents in each class)
- Los Ninos Bien Educados Program
- Confident Parenting Program
- Effective Black Parenting Program
- Early Childhood Systematic Training for Effective Parenting Program
- One day, all-day, parenting seminars (4-6 seminars in each Valley
for 80-120 parents in each seminar)
- Los Ninos Bien Educados Program
- Confident Parenting Program
- Effective Black Parenting Program
- Early Childhood Systematic Training for Effective Parenting Program
- Training conferences for childcare professionals in how to be more Effective Parenting Advocates and Resource Person (3 conferences with 100-150 childcare professionals in attendance at each conference)
- The
distribution of parenting educational booklets (15,000-20,000 booklets
are distributed each year)
- The Power of Positive Parenting Guidebook
- The American Youth PASSPORT Health and Safety Record
- The distribution of parenting educational videos (200-300 videos
are distributed each year)
- Yelling and Threatening: What To Do Instead video
- Golpes Y Gritos Como Evitarlos video
- Parent education meetings (PEM) using the parenting educational booklets and videos (numerous PEMs were held each year at childcare agencies for the parents)
Ongoing/formative evaluation took place throughout the program
to determine the needs and modifications to the Effective Parenting
Campaign. Constant dialogue between the project staff, community
partners, and parents receiving the materials and attending the classes
has guided the formative evaluation and modifications to the project.
Besides the formative evaluation, a multi-method approach was utilized
to collect data for each of the parents receiving the parenting educational
materials or attending the classes and seminars. Specifically, the
following data were gathered on subsamples of the participants: (a)
records of parents who receive the materials or attend the classes,
(b) pre-tests and post-tests, (c) satisfaction surveys (both open
and close-ended items). For the parenting educational materials,
additional evaluation methods were added. More specifically, besides
the other evaluation procedures, project staff made follow-up phone
calls several months after receiving the materials and conducted
focus groups to complement the quantitative data with qualitative
information from the constituents.
In general, the evaluation of
each of the Effective Parenting Campaign components has demonstrated
fairly consistent results. First, the participants have been very
satisfied with the parenting classes, seminars, videos, and booklets.
Significant increases in effective parenting knowledge and attitudes
have been found. Also, the qualitative data from the surveys, focus
groups, and follow-ups indicate that the parents feel they have learned
new parenting techniques, have enhanced their perception as being
confident parents, and have enhanced their understanding of their
children. The childcare professionals have consistently rated the
overall conference and workshops very highly. Also, they have demonstrated
that they understand the new role conception of being effective parenting
advocates and resource persons.