Promoting Program Fidelity through Peer-Assisted Supervision and Support

This chapter makes the case for the adoption of practitioner supervision as a quality assurance mechanism for the implementation of parenting interventions. This chapter addresses the need for effective and efficient supervision and posttraining support for the evidence-based program workforce to ensure the sustainability of delivery and the ongoing maintenance of program fidelity. Alongside other fidelity mechanisms, supervision can help develop practitioners’ confidence and competence in delivery and promote adherence to intervention protocols. Peer supervision has the potential to be both efficient and effective and may be more acceptable to stakeholders than traditional hierarchical supervision models. The Peer-Assisted Supervision and Support model is described, and findings describing its acceptability and feasibility to parenting program practitioners are presented.

Responding to Cultural Diversity in Families

The adoption of a comprehensive population-based approach to parenting support means that effective parenting programs must truly be inclusive and relevant to all cultures. This chapter introduces a series of four chapters that explore how evidence-based parenting support can best respond to barriers and challenges and embrace cultural diversity in families everywhere. Themes emerging from this content include the importance of understanding and respecting parents’ beliefs and values, the flexible and responsive delivery of evidence-based parenting programs, and collaboratively working toward shared goals. Considerable conceptual and empirical work is being undertaken in the area of parenting support for families of diverse cultural backgrounds. This work provides optimism for the positive impact that evidence-based parenting programs will have in the coming years for children, families, and communities globally.

Technology-Assisted Delivery of Parenting Programs

Increasingly, parents are looking to the Internet for information and advice about parenting. This presents an opportunity to broaden the reach and availability of evidence-based parenting support in an extremely cost-effective manner if we can harness the power of the Internet to deliver engaging and effective interactive programs. Online platforms provide the potential to tailor content and feedback to the user and reduce barriers to participation through ease and immediacy of access, flexibility and self-paced delivery, and increased privacy. This chapter examines the role of technology-assisted delivery of parenting support and discusses challenges in providing evidence-based parenting programs online. Learnings from research into the Triple P Online family of web-based programs are shared, including implementation issues that influence program outcomes, such as program engagement, dosage, and provision of professional support.

Parenting Support in the Workplace

Demographic changes over the last 40 years means the majority of parents are now employed in some capacity. This chapter outlines some of the challenges parents face in balancing competing work and family demands. The concept of work and family conflict is defined, and the impact of work and family conflict on individuals and families is discussed. A rationale is provided for the provision of parenting support via the workplaces as a means of improving the lives of employees and as a way of increasing population-level access to parenting support. A brief review of the efficacy of workplace parenting support is provided alongside practical examples of how to ensure successful program delivery in an organizational context. The chapter concludes with a discussion about the implications and provides some directions for future research.

Parenting Support and the School System

Children’s academic and well-being outcomes are influenced by both the home and the school environments. This means that parents and schools have a shared responsibility for promoting children’s development. Research shows that when parents and schools work together, students, parents, and teachers all benefit. One way in which schools can engage parents in their child’s education is by offering parenting support through parenting programs like the Triple P—Positive Parenting Program. Triple P can assist parents to develop effective morning, afternoon, and bedtime routines and to help students gain the self-management skills and the self-confidence necessary to succeed at school. This chapter discusses strategies and considerations for successfully implementing Triple P in schools, taking into account the school setting, workforce, and factors affecting parent participation.

Working with Fathers

The potential benefits of including fathers in parenting programs is increasingly recognized. Evidence suggests that key aspects of child behavior, fathering, and partner relationships can be positively affected by interventions if fathers are included. This chapter discusses the role of fathers in children’s development and why father-inclusive parenting programs are needed. Next, there is an examination of how the Triple P—Positive Parenting Program has engaged fathers to support the success of Triple P interventions. Research findings illustrate the importance of engaging fathers and co-parenting couples and addressing the needs and interests of both parents in program design and content.

Children and Adolescents with Chronic Health Conditions

Chronic childhood health conditions are common and significantly affect the child and family. This chapter begins by describing the central role parents play in children’s health outcomes and illness management and the impact the child’s health condition has on parents and the family. Few parenting interventions have been evaluated, and most focus on medical aspects rather than psychosocial factors related to child and family well-being. Existing approaches to parenting support are described, followed by an exploration of the evidence for Triple P interventions. Recent research using Positive Parenting for Healthy Living, a brief parenting intervention for parents with children with chronic health conditions, is showing promising outcomes. Policy and service implications of recent research are summarized.

How Parenting Influences the Lives of Children

Of all the potentially modifiable environmental risk and protective factors that can change the course of children’s development, none is more important than the quality of parenting children receive. To highlight the pervasive influence parents have on their children’s development and life opportunities, this chapter examines the many aspects of child development that are influenced by parents. Parents’ capacity to raise their children well is, in turn, influenced by a range of potentially modifiable social, emotional, relational, and contextual factors. These factors are explored, and the implications of each determinant with respect to the provision of parenting support are noted. Parenting programs provide a common pathway to positively influence diverse child and parent outcomes. It is argued that a comprehensive, need-responsive, and population-based system of parenting support is required to promote nurturing communities that will optimally assist parents in raising their children.

Learnings from Large-Scale, Population-Level Implementation of Parenting Support

There is considerable evidence supporting the efficacy and effectiveness of parenting interventions based on social learning principles for a range of social, emotional, and health problems, involving different types of families and through a variety of delivery systems. The challenge now is “going to scale” in order to have a positive impact at a population level. This chapter introduces three best practice exemplars that have taken place in the United States, Ireland, and Australia, where a full multilevel systems approach to parenting support has been applied and evaluated. These applications provide important lessons regarding the barriers and facilitators that can influence an initiative’s success and degree of impact. By illustrating how these approaches have involved different populations, behavioral targets, evaluation designs, and means of assessing outcome, they also hint at the many possibilities that are available in future dissemination efforts.

Measuring Child, Parent, and Family Outcomes at Individual and Population Levels

The hallmark of evidence-based approaches to parenting support is the systematic, comprehensive, and continuing measurement of outcomes, over time, across individuals and groups. The chapter beings by describing the typical targets of parenting intervention (e.g., child behavior and adjustment; parenting behavior and self-efficacy) as well as less frequently assessed, more distal, intervention targets (e.g., parent adjustment, couple relationships). The common types of assessments and best practice approaches to assessment are described. In particular, approaches to measuring individual child, parenting, and family outcomes, as well as approaches to measuring population-level outcomes are detailed. Finally, commonly used approaches to assess the effects of Triple P are outlined.