A meta-analysis of 47 studies investigating the relationship between family-centered helpgiving practices and parent, family, and child behavior and functioning is reported. The studies included more than 11,000 participants from seven different countries. Data analysis was guided by a practice-based theory of family-centered helpgiving that hypothesized direct effects of relational and participatory helpgiving practices on self-efficacy beliefs and parent, family, and child outcomes. Results showed that the largest majority of outcomes were related to helpgiving practices with the strongest influences on outcomes most proximal and contextual to help giver/help receiver exchanges. Findings are placed in the context of a broader-based social systems framework of early childhood intervention and family support.

The manner in which family-systems intervention practices were related to both parent-child interactions and child development was the focus of the meta-analysis described in this paper. The family-systems model that was investigated has been developed and updated during the past 25 years (Dunst, Trivette, & Deal, 1988;Trivette, Deal, & Dunst, 1986). Each version of the model includes key elements from social systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), empowerment (Rappaport, 1981, family strengths (Stinnett & DeFrain, 1985), social support (Cohen & Syme, 1985), and help-giving (Brickman et al., 1982) theories. The most recent version of the model has been modified and changed based on findings from research syntheses of each of the different practices making up the key elements of the model (Dunst & Trivette, 2009a). Figure 1 shows the four components of the family-systems model. The components include capacity-building helpgiving practices, family needs (concerns and priorities), family strengths, and social supports and resources. The model is implemented by practitioners by using capacitybuilding help-giving practices to have family members identify their needs, the supports and resources to meet those needs, the use of family members' existing capabilities (strengths), and the development of new abilities to obtain resources and supports to meet their needs. The hypothesized influences of family-systems intervention practices on parent-child interactions and child behavior are based on Bronfenbrenner's (1979Bronfenbrenner's ( , 1992Bronfenbrenner's ( , 1999 contention that unless parents are provided the necessary supports and resources to have the time and energy to carry out their parenting responsibilities, they cannot interact with their children in development-enhancing ways that promote child development. More specifically, Bronfenbrenner (1979) noted that whether parents can perform effectively in their child-rearing roles within the family depends on the role demands, stresses, and supports emanating from other settings. . . . Parents' evaluation of their own capacity to function, as well as their view of their child, are related to such external factors as flexibility AbstractThe extent to which the influences of family-systems intervention practices could be traced to variations in parent-child interactions and child development was investigated by meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM). MASEM is a procedure for producing a weighted pooled correlation matrix and fitting a structural equation model to the patterns of relationships in the data. The main practices constituting the focus of analysis were capacity-building help-giving practices, social supports and resources, family needs (concerns and priorities), and family strengths. Eight studies were included in the meta-analysis. The participants were 910 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with and without developmental delays or disabilities and their parents or other primary caregivers involved in different kinds of help-giving programs. Resul...

Both the reliability and validity of the Family Resource Scale (FRS) are described. The FRS is a 30-item rating scale for measuring the adequacy of resources in households with young children. The ordinality of the items, rank ordered from the most to least basic, was established in a study of 28 professionals. Both the reliability and validity of the scale was established in a second study of 45 mothers of preschool-aged children. The utility of the FRS for assessment and intervention purposes is discussed.

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This article includes a multimethod, multisource analysis and synthesis of the degree to which contemporary family-oriented early intervention policies and practices are family centered. Federal laws and legislation, state-level policy positions, and the viewpoints of service providers and consumers were analyzed as part of the study. The findings, taken together, indicate a movement toward adoption of family-centered early intervention policies and practices at the different levels of analysis. There are, however, discrepancies between what state-level policymakers and "street-level" providers and consumers see as current beliefs and practices within states.