Parent Education: Developments and Discrepancies

ResumeThe effects of professional intervention in family life and relationships has been questioned by a number of writers who maintain that this involvement has led to the undermining of parental authority and a lessening of parental competence and confidence. By contrast, others see this involvement as supplying necessary skills to family members.Amongst the programmes which professionals have implemented are parent education programmes, many of which are conducted in groups and which are valued by both practitioners and writers. As part of the broader debate about the relationships between professionals and the family however, some critics suggest that parent education programmes can have adverse effects on parents' confidence in their parental role and on their self-reliance in deciding how best to raise their children.A research project is being put into effect in Melbourne to explore these issues.

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Enhancing Growth in Parents as a Way of Promoting Family Life and Youth Health

Children Australia ◽

10.1017/s1035077200003497 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 10-15 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bala Mudaly

Keyword(s):

Parent Education ◽

Family Systems ◽

Family Life ◽

Systems Approach ◽

Theoretical Orientation ◽

Youth Health ◽

Education Programs ◽

The Family ◽

Parent Education Programs ◽

Group Programs

The important link between family life and youth health and wellbeing is widely acknowledged in research and literature. Equally, it is noted that the nature of relationships youngsters have with their parents, necessarily impact on the psychological wellbeing of parents.In the majority, current parent education programs focus on younger children, and largely advise parents on child development and child management. Depending on the theoretical orientation of the program, either the child's troublesome behaviour is focus for change or parents are required to change their behaviour or parenting techniques. The limitations of these approaches have been noted. While prescriptive parent education programs are clearly inappropriate where teenagers are the focus, few suitable group programs have been developed with a practical alternative orientation.This paper reports on one form of parent education being developed at Springvale Community Health Centre which serves to explore the practical relevance and benefits of a family systems approach in support-group programs for parents of adolescent children. Essentially, the family systems approach locates the parent-teenager relationship in the context of the family. Using key notions such as context, connectedness, continuity and change an attempt is made in the group to facilitate personal growth and the emergence of an alternative vision of family dynamics and parenting relationships.We shall not cease from explorationAnd the end of all our exploring‘Will be to arrive where we startedAnd to know the place for the first time(T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”)We got here through the grace of our parents.We get by with the help of our friends.We go on for the future of our children.(Ferber A. et al. The Book of Family Therapy, 1972)

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Portraying Migrant Families in Academic Publications: Naming and Framing

Vilnius University Open Series ◽

10.15388/os.2020.4 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 65-76

Author(s):

Irena Juozeliūnienė ◽

Indrė Bielevičiūtė ◽

Irma Budginaitė-Mačkinė

Keyword(s):

Family Life ◽

Research Council ◽

Family Relations ◽

Research Project ◽

Global Migration ◽

Migrant Families ◽

The Family ◽

Family Boundaries ◽

Academic Publications ◽

Migrant Family

In this chapter the authors set out to examine how migrant families are named and framed in academic publications by Lithuanian researchers published from 2004 to 2017, available in Lithuanian and international academic databases. The authors aim to disclose how Lithuanian academics perceive the change of family boundaries and fluidity of family relations in the context of global migration, and how the meanings of ‘change’ are used within academic publications that have sought to define the migrant family life as ‘troubling’. The analysis of publications presented in this chapter was carried out from January to March 2018. It formed a sub-study of the research project ‘Global Migration and Lithuanian Family: Family Practices, Circulation of Care, and Return Strategies’ (2017–2019), funded by the Lithuanian Research Council. The analysis has revealed that Lithuanian researchers portray migrant families as extended in space, liquid, networked, survived, but unsecure because of ongoing risks as well as experiencing ‘losses’ or/ and ‘gains’. The researchers conclude that portraits presented by the academics are framed by the family ideology, while naming of migrant families highly rely on the images of ‘how a family should be’.

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Bringing home the bacon: Testing a moderated mediation model of job insecurity, work–family conflict, and parent–child attachment

Social Science Information ◽

10.1177/0539018420973888 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 053901842097388

Author(s):

Muhammad Waqas ◽

Li Hongbo ◽

Hussain Tariq ◽

Farzan Yahya

Keyword(s):

Adverse Effects ◽

Family Life ◽

Family Conflict ◽

Job Insecurity ◽

Mediating Effect ◽

Work Family Conflict ◽

Child Attachment ◽

The Family ◽

Work Family ◽

Parent Child

Job insecurity, defined as a perceived loss of continuity in a job situation that can span from the loss of some subjectively important job features to the permanent loss of the job itself, has been associated with a number of adverse outcomes at organizational as well as individual levels. However, how it affects employees’ family life has gained relatively less attention. To examine this, based on role stress theory and boundary theory, this study answers how job insecurity affects parent–child attachment; so far, an ignored phenomenon. Besides, this study also investigates how segmentation preference mitigates the adverse effects of job insecurity. Based on time-lagged, 318 dyadic (including 318 parents and 318 kids) data collected from Chinese individuals, we found support for all the proposed relationships, i.e. job insecurity weakens the parent–child attachment through mediating effect of work–family conflict. The findings also conclude that employees’ segmentation preference restricts the adverse effects of job insecurity and weakens its effect on the family domain. In yielding these findings, this study not only highlights the effect of perceived job insecurity on the family domain, the mechanism through which it occurs, and the moderating effect of a given factor but also provides insights to organizations so they could improve employees’ family life. The broader contribution to theory, practical implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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The Family Life Education Programme

Children Australia ◽

10.1017/s1035077200003679 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 17-21 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

David Mellor ◽

Shane Storer

Keyword(s):

Parent Education ◽

Family Life ◽

Education Programme ◽

Family Life Education ◽

Parent Perspective ◽

The Family ◽

Life Education ◽

The Many ◽

Education Groups ◽

The Impact

This paper describes the development of the Family Life Education Programme, an innovative group approach to parenting issues. The programme aims to (i) utilise the strengths of a multidisciplinary allied health team and (ii) to avoid focusing on the limited issues of child management and discipline. Previous styles of parent education groups are discussed, together with their shortcomings and the authors’ frustrations with such approaches. The rationale for the format of the new programme is described, and the detailed structure outlined. Two innovations are highlighted. Firstly, the programme focuses on issues from both the child and parent perspective (eg, child's play/parents’ recreation). Secondly, the six-week programme uses professionals from various disciplines as weekly consultants, while one member of the team provides week-to-week continuity as an anchor. The programme is evaluated in terms of the impact on the multi-disciplinary team, and the feedback from participants. It is argued that the Family Life Education Programme offers a balanced approach to the many issues confronting parents of young children and it could be implemented not only within multi-disciplinary teams, but also co-operatively across agencies.

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