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)
Evaluation
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.