The parenting partnership: The evaluation of a human service/corporate workplace collaboration for the prevention of substance abuse and mental health problems, and the promotion of family and work adjustment

Abstract

A partnership between corporate worksites, a community-based prevention agency, and families in those worksites is described. Its primary goals were the reduction of family risk and enhancement of family protective factors that predispose children and youth to substance abuse and related social and emotional difficulties. A related goal of the program is to reduce family stress levels and attitudes that may influence the parents' levels of risk for substance abuse and related disorder. The program delivery strategy is conceived of as part of the necessart efforts of prevention programs to reach target populations in host settings in which they may naturally participate, thereby reducing obstacles and barriers to participation that often impede prevention efforts. Evaluation revealed that the program was generally better able to retain parents for a fairly lengthy period, and with high rates of attendance. Program attendance was also not affected by parental background characteristics that, in other delivery approaches, are often associated with poor attendance and high drop-out levels. Results also indicated that levels of program exposure (dosage) do make a significant difference in the efficacy of such efforts as those parents in the program who participated in higher percentages and numbers of sessions (i.e. more than 80% of sessions) showed both short-term and longer-term (i.e. across 18 month follow-ups) gains in their ratings of the target child's behavior problems and strengths, substance abuse resistance related knowledge and attitudes, reduced parental stress, depression and irritability, and increased utilization of social support. By contrast, parents who received a low program exposure exhibited a more restricted set of short-term gains. The findings are discussed in terms of their importance for consideration of program dosage for prevention programs, and the need to attend to the context in which programming is offered as it may facilitate or impede efforts to provide levels of dosage and fidelity to create enduring impacts.

Parents Working Together: development and feasibility trial of a workplace-based program for parents that incorporates general parenting and health behaviour messages

“…A novel finding of PWT is that a worksite parent program focused on general parenting and weight-related messages can be successful at recruiting fathers to the intervention; 55.6 % of the participants in PWT were fathers. Parenting programs are typically attended primarily by mothers both in the workplace [27, 30, 31] and in community settings [18, 20, 21, 37]. Only Let’s Talk!…”

Relating Engagement to Outcomes in Prevention: The Case of a Parenting Program for Couples

“…Participants who attended at least 80% of the program (high dosage group) reported significant, lasting improvements in child behavior problems, child positive behaviors, parenting behaviors, and parental attitudes against substance abuse (Felner, Brand, Mulhall, Counter, & et al, 1994). In contrast, participants who received low dosage (< 80% program attendance) did not report significant improvements in these domains or reported improvements that did not sustain at long-term follow-up.…”

Worksite-Based Parenting Programs to Promote Healthy Adolescent Sexual Development: A Qualitative Study Of Feasibility and Potential Content

“…6 Teaching parents good parenting and communication skills offers a promising approach to protecting adolescent sexual health. Most parenting programs, however, have high dropout rates, 7 possibly because of competing demands and inaccessibility. Parents may not have the time or resources to travel to the program site and arrange for care for young children.…”