Parenting skills are essential for promoting child well-being, but many parents struggle with how to parent effectively and meet both their own needs and those of their children. Strengthening Families is a parent, youth, and family skills-building curriculum designed to:
- help parents and caregivers learn nurturing skills that support their children,
- teach parents and caregivers how to effectively discipline and guide their youth,
- give youth a healthy future orientation and an increased appreciation of their parents and caregivers, and
- teach youth skills for dealing with stress and peer pressure.
Strengthening Families is unique in that it is a workshop in which parents and youth learn together. The program is delivered in 7 two-hour sessions where parents and youth meet separately for the first hour and then the families practice skills and have fun together during the second hour. Sessions are highly interactive and include realistic videos, role-playing, discussions,learning games, and family projects.
Warren County Program
The curriculum is designed and used with ethnically diverse families in rural and urban settings. The New York City program is presented through a partnership between CCE and the Coalition for Hispanic Families in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.
CCE educators in Albany, Jefferson, Orange, and Warren counties and New York City are conducting this nationally recognized program that was developed by faculty at Iowa State University Extension.
The Iowa Strengthening Families Program is the result of evidence-based research using a major longitudinal study of families who live in areas with a high percentage of economically-stressed families and followed the youth and their parents from 6th through 12th grade.
A research brief has been published by Extension Associate Kimberly Kopko, Undergraduate Junior Amy McKlindon, and Associate Professor Rachel Dunifon, researchers in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management.
It documents outcomes from eight sessions of the Strengthening Families Program offered to 59 adults and 62 youth in New York State by Cornell Cooperative Extension educators from January through November, 2007 across five counties and in New York City.
The study used a pre- and post-test evaluation, in which participants are asked a series of questions at both the beginning of a program (pre-test) and then again at the program’s completion (post-test).
Orange County Program
This design allowed Cornell researchers to measure changes in participant knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors that may have resulted from participation in the program (although such a design cannot definitely point to the program itself as the cause of any change; it is possible that caregivers or youth would have experienced changes even if they had not participated in the program).
Adults
In comparing the caregiver pre- and post-test survey results, ten of the 20 questions showed positive outcomes as a result of participating in the program. Six of these questions showed highly significant positive changes at the 1% level, which means that the researchers are 99% certain that the results are not due to chance.
Warren County Program
- I wait to deal with problems with my child until I have cooled down.
- I remember that it is normal for children to be harder to get along with at this age.
- I follow through with consequences each time he/she breaks a rule.
- I talk to my child about his/her future goals without criticizing.
- I spend special one-on-one time with my youth.
- I give compliments and rewards when my child does chores at home or follows rules.
Youth
Like those of the caregivers, youth results were very positive with statistically significant outcomes on more than half of the 15 questions asked of youth before participating in the Strengthening Families Program and again following program completion. The following six questions showed positive changes at the 1% level, indicating that results were highly significant.
- If a friend suggests that we do something that can get us both into trouble, I am able to get out of doing that.
- We have family meetings to discuss plans, schedules, and rules.
- I listen to my parent(s)’ point of view.
- My parent(s) and I can sit down together to work on a problem without yelling or getting mad.
- My parent(s) are calm when they discipline me.
- I feel truly loved and respected by my parents.
Conclusion
This highly successful program continues to be offered in counties across New York State. During 2008, the program will expand to additional counties as a new group of parent educators receives training in the Strengthening Families curriculum.
Strengthening Families is part of the Parenting in Context program in the College of Human Ecology’s Department of Policy Analysis and Management. This report is one of a number of Research Briefs on the site, as well as numerous valuable resources primarily addressed to educators.
Warrren County Program
