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This qualitative study was designed to investigate which sources of information participating mothers had actually based their recent parental actions on. The sample included thirty married mothers living in Muncie, Indiana. Fifteen of these mothers had a firstborn fouryear-old, and fifteen had a firstborn eight-year-old. No mothers were trained in education or behavioral sciences.Participants responded to two-hour semi-structured interviews in their homes, according to a methodology delineated in Grant McCracken's book The Long Interview (SAGE, 1988). Interviews focused on eleven categories of typical parent-child interactions, with four interview questions pertaining to each category.In each category, the mother first described a recent parental action. Second, she related the information or belief which had influenced her action. Third, she told where this information had come from; fourth, she told why she considered the source credible.Mothers reported that most of their trusted information came from their personal beliefs/values, their observations of their child's needs and preferences, from raising their children as they were raised or from reacting against the way they were raised, and from impulsive reacting without thinking or planning. The next most cited sources were friends and relatives, then public media, and least-utilized sources were professionals. Participants trusted most information which agreed with their own beliefs, values, observations, and past experiences. Sources of information varied by topic category. Teacher influence on all mothers' actions was minimal.Twenty-six mothers volunteered that they felt despair about their continual discipline problems. / Department of Educational Leadership

M.A. (Social Work) / The purpose of this study was to integrate existing scientific knowledge into a parent-training programme for adoptive parents. The viability of such a programme was investigated in the light of the viewpoint of many authors that the increasing responsibility of parenthood creates an increasing need for parent-training programmes. The purpose of this study was formulated as follows: i) to broaden the insight and knowledge of adoptive parents with regard to specific matters pertaining to adoption; ii) to support adoptive parents in their child-rearing task by stimulating the development of more insigt into the developmental phases, with special emphasis on those factors pertaining to the development of the self-image and identity formation, as well as the genealogy, of the adoptive child; iii) through the application of insight and knowledge gained through the programme, to assist their adoptive children in the development of a positive self-image and identity; iv) - to enhance a positive self-image of the parent; - to enhance the parent-child relationship; and - to aim at better family relationships as a result of the above, through enhancing satisfactory and effective role fulfillment of the parent; v) to enhance primary prevention in the hope that the emotional and social maladaptation of the adoptive child may be avoided. In order to fulfill these purposes, a conceptual framework was developed to generate questions and formulate hypotheses. The Resiarch Development and Utilization model of Edwin Thomas was utilized as research design for the development of the programme. In the third phase of Thomas' model i.e. the evaluation phase, provision is made for the utilization of evaluative research methodology for the evaluation of the relevant social technology. Thomas' model further provides for the utilization of experimental and quasi-experimental designs for the evaluation of social technology. In additioh, this researcher used programme evaluation as experimental design, as well as an exploratory-formulative or hypotheses-developmental design. Three correlation hypotheses were formulated predicting the relationship between the parent-training programme for adoptive parents (the independent variable) and the role...

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Previous research has clearly established the efficacy of behavioral parent training approaches for the treatment of Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a parent training program utilizing cognitive-behavioral strategies of self-instruction with ADHD children. Parents of 35 elementary school-age children referred for treatment of their children's chronic inattention, impulsivity, and restlessness were randomly assigned to one of three groups: behavioral parent training, self-instructional parent training, or a parent support group. Outcome measures collected prior to and after treatment and at a 1-month follow-up included a parent-report measure of child behavioral problems in the home, parent-report of behavior problem pervasiveness across home settings, and a teacher-report measure of school behavior. The integrity of treatment procedures was assessed via process inventories completed by parents following each session and by expert ratings of session audiotapes. No systematic differences between conditions were noted with respect to the group leader's style, and integrity of the treatment groups was validated by the expert audiotape ratings. The results indicated that self-instructional and behavioral parent training appeared to produce significant reductions in parent-rated measures of global behavior problems and ADHD-related behaviors which were maintained at 1-month follow-up. There was no generalization of treatment effects to the school setting for any group. The results suggest that self-instructional parent training is an effective treatment for ADHD children.

The purposes of this study were to determine if participation by mothers and their children in a time-limited parent education intervention would influence the children's oral hygiene status and to determine if there was a generalization effect of the parent education intervention on responsibility in the home. A secondary purpose of the study was to observe the influence of the intervention over time in order to ascertain ways in which the intervention might be strengthened. The research design was an adapted multiple time series design. Twenty middle socioeconomic level mothers in rural West Virginia with at least one child between the ages of seven and eleven who did not assume responsibility for brushing his or her teeth were randomly assigned to an experimental and control group. The ten mothers in each group accompanied their target child and siblings to two dental hygiene appointments, one week apart, at the Dental Hygiene Clinic at the West Virginia Institute of Technology. The mothers and their children in the experimental group participated in an Adlerian counseling interview. All children received an oral prophylaxis, X-rays, toothbrushing instruction and a toothbrush. Oral hygiene observations were collected by independent dental hygienists on random days at school before, during and following the treatment for five weeks. Inter- and intrarater reliability checks were made throughout the study. The Adlerian Parental Assessment of Child Behavior Scale (APACBS) was administered to all parents during the initial appointment and during the second and fifth weeks after the second appointment. Analyses of variance and covariance indicated at the .05 level of significance that specific parental involvement is necessary to stimulate children to assume responsibility for their oral hygiene care. It appeared that a generalization effect occurred in the home although caution is expressed regarding this interpretation. Parent evaluation reported that while all parents reacted favorably to the program, more parents in the experimental group indicated that the program had an effect on them and their children. Based on the results and the parental satisfaction, no specific recommendations were made to strengthen the parent education intervention within the time frame investigated. Recommendations for future research are made.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Parenting education is a process of providing information to parents on the challenges of parenting, services available for families, and ideas on how to interact with children. The federal Even Start family literacy program, designed to increase the educational opportunities of parents and children, has a strong parenting education component. Parenting information is offered through formal classes, support groups, home visits and by involving parents in their child's classroom. Using the life course and family system's perspective, this study examined the impact of participation in the Even Start program on parents' knowledge of parenting and their parenting practices. The study employed a pretest-posttest design and utilized quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. In all, 74 Even Start and 26 comparison group parents participated. Four hypotheses were tested: (a) Even Start parents would make greater gains in parenting knowledge and practices than would comparison group parents; (b) parents who made gains in parenting knowledge and practices would have different demographic characteristics than those who did not make gains; (c) parents with lower depression, higher self-esteem, and greater social support would make greater gains in parenting knowledge and practices; and (d) programs offering more hours of parenting education would have parents making greater gains in parenting knowledge and practices. Quantitative results indicate that there are demographic differences at pretest and posttest in parents' scores on parenting knowledge and practices although there is no significant difference in score gains as the result of program participation. More positive parenting practices were associated at pretest and posttest with lower levels of depression. Qualitative results found increases in parenting knowledge, parenting practices, and self-esteem. No differences were found in programs who offered greater number of hours of parenting education than those that did not. / Graduation date: 1997

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

M.A. (Social Work) / The aim of this study was to determine the effect of a particular parent guidance programme on the stress experienced by working mothers. The programme was aimed at the working mother, given her particularly difficult position and resulting stress, as well as the importance of the mother's role in child care. A specific programme known as "Ouerverrykingsprogram" was presented to working mothers and its effect was evaluated with regard to certain areas of stress. In evaluating the effectiveness of the parent guidance programme, the specific goal of the study was to ascertain whether working mothers, subjected to the programme, experienced a difference in stress on the following aspects: intrapsychic stress, work stress, family stress (referring to both marital and parent-child relationships), total stress. with this goal in mind the following objectives were set for the study: To give a theoretical discussion of the working mothers dilemma. To discuss the enriching and preventative value of parent guidance for working mothers. To apply an existing parent guidance programme in practice and to evaluate certain components relevant to the main goal. To ascertain the effectiveness of the programme by means of of an evaluation questionnaire focussing on the opinion of subjects regarding the course.