1 - Professional Issues in Parent Education

This study focuses on investigation and comparison of the thinking processes and knowledge of expert and novice parents. Interview data and verbal protocols were collected through three data collection approaches with expert and novice mothers of infants. Results indicate differences in the knowledge, goals, role beliefs and behaviors as well as cue recognition and interpretation of experts and novices. Results are discussed related to development of instructional approaches for increasing parent competence through parent education. The assumption that parents are the first and most important influence on their children's early development is increasingly accepted. Along with this belief is the recognition that the parent role is a complex, learned role and not one that comes naturally as many people have historically believed. Interest and programming in parent education have expanded and promise to continue based on the broad acceptance of these two widely held beliefs (Bigner, 1989; Fantini & Cardenas, 1980; Fine, 1980; Fine & Henry, 1989; Hamner & Turner, 1985; Harmon & Brim, 1980; Hicks & Williams, 1981; Hobbs et al., 1984; LeMasters & DeFrain, 1983; Wandersman, 1987). As stated by Wandersman (1987), Parent education is based on the principle that parenthood is an extremely complex and demanding job, and that education can help parents perform their job more effectively (p. 207). As the field of parent education has expanded, demands for training and professional development opportunities for parent educators have increased. In the process of planning and delivering professional development offerings for parent educators, it has become increasingly clear that more needs to be known in answer to the question What makes an effective competent parent or caregiver? The observable actions or behaviors of parents have typically been the focus of study in understanding parental competence. Research in child development has yielded extensive data concerning characteristics of effective parentchild interaction and child outcomes associated with various forms of parent behavior and interaction (e.g., Estrada, Asenio, Hess, & Holloway, 1987; Holdez & West, 1989; Maccoby, 1984; Pratt, Kerig, Cowan, & Cowan, 1988; Russel I & Russell, 1987; Wertsch, 1985). Baumrind (1966, 1970), for example, provides extensive evidence about the kinds of parenting which foster the development of socially responsible and independent behavior in children. The authoritative parenting style described by Baumrind, which was found to be the style most closely associated with competence in children, emphasizes the development of autonomy in children within reasonable parental limits. Research evidence on the competence of parents of infants points to the importance of sensitive and consistent parental responsiveness to infant signals to secure infant-parent attachment and development of infant social cognition (Ainsworth, 1979; Ainsworth & Bell, 1974; Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978; Kaye, 1982; Lamb & Easterbrooks, 1981; Lamb, Pleck, Charnov, & Levine, 1987).

America's crisis of youth mental health challenges has been worsened by COVID-19. Group-based parent education has been proven effective in intervention and prevention; however, a lack of universal access and the busyness of parents are significant barriers to participation. Rapid growth in technology-based education aims to increase accessibility but live, virtual parent education was understudied. E3 Parent Education (E3 PE) was a free, virtual, and synchronous group programme offered in Montana by a certified parent educator to support families navigating common and uncommon challenges. Through qualitative evaluation with eight programme participants (n = 8), this study aimed to understand impacts and access of this parent education programme. All participants (100%) aligned on three themes describing the virtual, synchronous parent education experience: convenience, connection, and comfort. Participants suggested strategies for improvement as well. A free, virtual, synchronous, group-based format provided equitable access and lowered the barriers to participation. Findings advised that the developers, facilitators, and policymakers consider adding virtual options alongside in-person settings to reduce participant barriers and meet the needs of different families.

Communication within the family is one of the means of parents instill the values to their children. This research background is the low skilled interpersonal communication of children and their parents. This study aimed to describe and examined: (1) interpersonal communication of children and parents in terms of sex, the last education of parent, and area of residence, (2) differences in interpersonal communication of children and parents in terms of sex, the last education of parent, and area of residence. The research methods applied in this research was ex post facto with factorial design 2 x 3 x 2. The population was students in SMAN 1 Maninjau and SMAN 1 Bukittinggi. The number of samples as much as 263 people were selected by cluster random sampling and combined with the technique propotional random sampling technique. The instruments used a Likert scale. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and using analysis of variance. Data analysis results showed that: (1) the general, interpersonal communication of children and parents in terms of sex, the last education of parents, and area of residence were in good category, (2) there are significant differences the variables sex, in the mean scores of female is higher than male students' the, the last education of parent and area of residence there are no differences significant. The implications of the results of this research can be used as input to create a program of guidance and counseling services, especially in the development of family.

Evidence-based Parenting Education, a Global Perspective offers a comprehensive overview of the foundations of evidence-based parenting education as well as a review of many of the most significant programs available globally. The National Extension Parenting Education Model (NEPEM) makes a major contribution to the field of parenting education. The Incredible Years (IY) parent training programs utilize a principle-driven, collaborative approach that guides implementation with high fidelity and adaptation. Parent training programs are the best-documented interventions for treating children's behavior problems. The Parent Management Training-Oregon Model (PMTO) has a long history of theory-based research and treatment development. Parenting Wisely is a cost-effective, research-based parent education program that reduces child and adolescent behavior problems, family conflict, problems at school, and teen and parent substance use. Positive Parenting Program provides a multi-level, multidisciplinary parenting support system designed to enhance parent's knowledge, skills, and confidence. The Strengthening Families Program (SFP) is a research-based prevention program for high-risk children of substance abusers.

BackgroundThe mother-child relationship is extremely important, and for mothers experiencing incarceration, this relationship has unique challenges. There is limited evidence currently available to identify the type and content of parenting education that would best suit women who are incarcerated.ObjectiveThis study aims to design and evaluate a parent education program for women experiencing incarceration in South Australia. The program must meet the specific needs of incarcerated women and considers the cultural needs of Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islanders and migrant women. Hereafter Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples will be referred to as Aboriginal; the authors acknowledge the diversity within Aboriginal cultures.MethodsThis study will utilize a mixed methods approach, including six phases framed by a community-based theoretical model. This methodology provides a collaborative approach between the researcher and the community to empower the women experiencing incarceration, allowing their parenting education needs to be addressed.ResultsA scoping review was undertaken to inform this study protocol. This paper describes and discusses the protocol for this mixed methods study. Recruiting commenced in December 2019, results will be published in 2020, and the project will be completed by August 2022. This project has been supported by a Research Training Scholarship from the Australian Government.ConclusionsThe scoping review highlighted a lack of rigorous evidence to determine the most appropriate parenting education program to suit women experiencing incarceration specifically, and there was little consideration for the cultural needs of women. It also became clear that when quantitative and qualitative data are utilized, the women’s voices can assist in the determination of what works, what will not work, and what can be improved. The data collected and analyzed during this study, as well as the current evidence, will assist in the development of a specific parenting education program to meet the needs of women experiencing incarceration in South Australia and will be implemented and evaluated as part of the study.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)PRR1-10.2196/18992

Education about families in China has evolved in essence from ancient family rules for maintaining its members’ roles and responsibilities based on Confucius philosophy, parenting and parent education, to the recent emergence of relational skill training. This chapter aims to first illuminate the evolutional processes of family life education (FLE) and the FLE in the social, economic, historical, and cultural context of Chinese families today. The chapter specifically focuses on stresses and challenges that families face during Chinese economic and social reforms and the FLE development in both practice and theory that intend to address these stresses. China has introduced policies to promote healthy relationship, increase awareness of child and woman abuse, and protect the elderly through education. Chinese FLE has challenges in development and limitations in implementation. Lessons may be learned from Hong Kong’s successes. Chinese FLE programs have been created, mainly with focus on early childhood education and parenting. The chapter concludes that systematic family life education will eventually emerge as a professional field.

Families, especially parents, have an important influence in shaping children's character, especially when character development starts at an early age. Family communication refers to the exchange of information and ideas among family members. This communication serves as a means for family members to engage with each other and plays an important role in the formation and development of values that guide life. This qualitative research uses in-depth interviews with self-disclosure theory to examine family communication strategies in dealing with toxic relationships in broken home families and the impact of broken homes on toxic relationship parenting on child development. Conflict causes family disharmony, while toxic relationships and poor parenting imply poor parenting. The study found that children from broken home families have lower self-esteem, decision-making problems, guilt, and mental health problems. In this case the findings regarding family communication strategies highlighted interpersonal communication and understanding of healthy parenting practices and the role of parents in children's development. Broken home families communicate using cell phones and social media, rarely speaking to each other. Even for certain issues, parents have to meet. There are no communication difficulties with the community, there are only psychological barriers due to shyness in broken home families when socializing. Parent education, psychotherapy and parenting education are suggestions. These measures can prevent toxic relationships and help psychologically damaged children

Nonorganic failure to thrive (N-O FTT) is associated with abnormal psychosocial characteristics in the family, and prognosis for physical, behavioral and cognitive development is poor. In a multidisciplinary program aimed at providing comprehensive medical care, psychosocial support, and parent education to teach child-rearing practices based on the child's development and enhanced parent-child interaction, team members (pediatric nurse associate, nutritionist, social worker and parent educator) saw the family at 1- to 4-week intervals over a 6-month to 2-year period. As evaluated by standard growth charts, all 10 patients in the study group significantly improved ( > 2SD) in weight within 1-4 months and in height in 1-3 months and maintained that improvement, head circumference and scores on the Cattell Intelligence Scale were not delayed in most patients, and pre- vs postscores on the Parenting Stress Index improved in both child and parent domains. Among age- and sex-matched controls (followed in continuity-care clinics), only infants placed in foster care similarly improved. A few infants with fetal alcohol syndrome enrolled in the study and reared by foster parents did not significantly improve in growth. A comprehensive multidiseiplinary program effectively provides psychosocial support to the parents and restores normal growth in children with N-O FTT. Longitudinal studies are needed to show persistent beneficial effects. Supported by the Institute of Mental Hygiene of the City of New Orleans.

The subject of the research is the pedagogical education of parents in Russia (USSR) (1980s to present time). The purpose of the article is to present in chronological order the main pedagogically significant events and facts, to identify key ideas and features of the implementation of pedagogical education of parents in different periods. There are three periods of parents education: the Soviet (from the 1980s to 1991), the post-Soviet (1992 – the end of the 2010s) and the modern (the end of 2010 to the present time). It is shown that the pedagogical education of parents in Russia has evolved from pedagogical universal education, popularization of Westernization, opposition to Westernization and traditional approaches, to familiarization with traditional Russian spiritual and moral values. Research methods: theoretical analysis of sources, comparative analysis, generalization. Research sources: normative legal acts in the field of education, upbringing, and the development of family relations, the works of teachers, psychologists, and publicists, the journal for parents "Family and School." During the Soviet period, official pedagogical universal education with a formal approach and party postulates, and separate practices based on Western ideas (attention to the feelings of the parent and positive child-parent communication) coexisted. The specific psychological and pedagogical knowledge needed by the parent did not fit well with the communist ideology. Testing and adapting Western ideas to the Soviet reality was difficult. In the post-Soviet period, educational programs implemented in schools and social protection institutions rely mainly on a traditional approach with a passive and often indifferent parent, but influencing the child. Western practices have not been fully understood and accepted by educators and psychologists. The modern period is characterized by the development of unified methodological and substantive approaches: the All-Russian conferences on family education and parental education "School of Gifted Parents" are held annually, the All-Russian competition of best practices in parental education, a project is being implemented in all regions of Russia to provide psychological, pedagogical, methodological and counseling services to parents, university psychological services are being created that provide psychological education of parents. Information and methodological support are being created, unified education programs for parents and specialists are being developed.

Chapter 13 - Parent Education Programs: Ready, Set, Go!

This chapter discusses fragments of theory, research, and an evolving practice of parenting education with incarcerated fathers. C. Lanier builds a strong case and describes an agenda for more research on incarcerated fathers. The chapter focuses on practice, including needs of incarcerated fathers, program goals, recruitment and barriers, evaluation strategies, and a summary of core learnings to guide effective practice. It also focuses on the design process for creating a parent education program in a correctional facility. The program content has evolved over time based on the initial assessment of needs and interests combined with general knowledge and skills that are included in most parent education programs. The conceptual frameworks of generative fathering and microstructural theory provide foundation for designing parent education programs, and specific information on needs of incarcerated fathers, program goals, recruitment, content and methods, and approaches to program evaluation is offered to guide program design.

Education of a child begins in the family, and a pre-school institution helps to educate, expands his/ her social experience, provides conditions to learn to live inside a small community of children. In institutions of pre-school education, pedagogues provide qualified pedagogical psychological support to parents. Collaboration of pedagogues and parents helps to strive for the same aim, brings all participants of education closer. Only reciprocal trust between education institution and family as well as their collaboration ensure successful formation of a child’s personality. The aim of the research is to reveal how education of parents proceeds in a pre-school institution, how education of parents could be improved.Aiming to identify the concept of parents, what education of parents means, to identify the forms of its implementation in pre-school education institutions and how it could be improved, the following research methods have been applied:Review of scientific literature (to reveal the theoretical context);Standardised interview (to collect data of the empirical research);Content analysis of empirical data.The article consists of two parts. The first part defines the concept of education of parents and discusses possibilities for involvement of parents in education of children and its significance in development of child’s personality. The second part presents the research methods and organisation and introduces results of the qualitative research. On the ground of the empirical research, the article identifies the concept of parents, what education of parents is, what forms are used to implement it in pre-school education institutions attended by their children, possibilities to improve education of parents. The article is finalised with conclusions.Key words: education of parents, involvement of parents, forms of education of parents, child’s personality, education of children, institution of pre-school education. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/andragogy.v8i0.1723

Objectives This study aims to present guidelines for parent education through the exploration of theories, programs, and research trends. Methods The theories and programs related to the education of parents of young children were reviewed, and a total of 143 domestic journals were analyzed. Results Results Five theories and four programs related to parent education were compared and analyzed, and the results of analysis of trends in domestic academic journals related to parent education were presented by research period, research method, and research topic. 1) Research on education of parents of young children has continued to increase since 2000. 2) In terms of research methods, quantitative studies were mainly conducted, and investigatory research studies and program development studies were the most frequent. In the second phase, qualitative research increased markedly. 3) In terms of themes, during the first phase, many studies were conducted in relation to parent education programs, whereas during the second phase, many studies were conducted in relation to the social aspects of parent education. Conclusions The direction of education proposed for parents of young children derived through the exploration of parent education theories, programs and research trends is the strengthening of each of the following: expert-parent cooperative parent education; diversification of parent education according to changes in family form; parent education focused on young children of a future society; sustainable development parent education; reinforcement of preliminary parental education. In addition, a practical alternative to early childhood institution- centered parental education was suggested. The results of this study is intended to provide direction for future research on parent education, provide practical guidelines for parent education in early childhood education institutions, give policy direction in the education of parents of young children, and serve as the impetus for finding a solution for the low fertility rate problem.

Researchers have identified four common co-occurring parental risk factors-substance abuse, mental illness, domestic violence, and child conduct problems-that lead to child maltreatment. The extent to which maltreatment prevention programs must directly address these risk factors to improve responsiveness to parenting programs or can directly focus on improving parenting skills, says Richard Barth, remains uncertain. Barth begins by describing how each of the four parental issues is related to child maltreatment. He then examines a variety of parent education interventions aimed at preventing child abuse. He cautions that many of the interventions have not been carefully evaluated and those that have been have shown little effect on child maltreatment or its risk factors. Although some argue that parent education cannot succeed unless family problems are also addressed, much evidence suggests that first helping parents to be more effective with their children can address mental health needs and improve the chances of substance abuse recovery. Barth recommends increased public support for research trials to compare the effectiveness of programs focused on parenting education and those aiming to reduce related risk factors. Child welfare services and evidence-based parent training, says Barth, are in a period of transformation. Evidence-based methods are rapidly emerging from a development phase that has primarily involved local and highly controlled studies into more national implementation and greater engagement with the child welfare system. The next step is effectiveness trials. Citing the importance and success of multifaceted campaigns in public health policy, Barth discusses a multifaceted parenting campaign that has demonstrated substantial promise in several large trials. The goal of the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program is to help parents deal with the full gamut of children's health and behavioral issues. The campaign includes five levels of intervention, each featuring a different means of delivery and intensity of service. More broadly, Barth suggests that the evidence-based Triple P approach offers a general framework that could be used to guide the future evolution of parenting programs.

Parental concerns about their children as expressed to child development specialists in a private pediatric office are described. In general, the most frequent concerns are negative behaviors, toileting, developmental delays, and school problems. In addition, parents of boys have more concerns than parents of girls and the 1–5 age bracket (especially ages 2–3)is the source of the largest percentage of calls about children of both sexes. The implications of these data for training parent educators and also understanding normal development are discussed. It appears that those engaged in parent education programs should have broad training in multidisciplinary settings. Finally, it is suggested that similar studies in other settings be undertaken and that the training of pediatric psychologists as well as other child development specialists be more closely based upon the kinds of questions they will be asked in their professional settings.