Positive Parenting Program makes an impact
He sounds nothing like Supernanny, but parents across the United Kingdom are thrilled with the advice they are getting from the founder of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program, Australia ’s Professor Matt Sanders.
Professor Sanders presented a six-part series, Driving Mum and Dad Mad, which aired on British television in 2005. The series recorded the journey of five families doing the Triple P program. The series proved so popular with audiences it out-rated Desperate Housewives.
A research team worked with Professor Sanders to assess how much just watching the series helped parents at home, and whether by adopting the ideas suggested, mums and dads were able to improve their children’s behaviour and reduce their own stress levels.
The results showed parents watching the television series of the Triple P Program felt they had become more effective. Parents who benefited the most were those experiencing the greatest difficulty dealing with their children’s behavioural problems. Those with poor parenting strategies, parental anger and a lack of confidence seemed to gain the most.
Professor Sanders, who is currently Director of the Parenting and Family Support Centre at the University of Queensland, recently spoke at a DoCS seminar about Triple P, highlighting the importance of early intervention services to help parents.
“The single most important thing we can do as a community to prevent children developing serious behavioural, emotional and learning problems is to assist parents in the important role of raising children,” Professor Sanders said.
“Parenting difficulty is a significant public health problem. With 84 per cent of children who have emotional and behavioural problems coming from middle Australia, it’s clear the vast majority of Australian parents are crying out for help.”
Sanders’ Positive Parenting Program aims to promote the independence and health of families by enhancing parents’ knowledge, skills and confidence by providing five levels of intervention.
The levels include a universal population media strategy, two levels of brief primary care consultations and two more intensive training and family intervention programs for children at risk of further behavioural problems.
More recently, Triple P has been expanded for special needs groups. Pathways Triple P targets parents at risk of maltreating their children by teaching them anger management and other skills, while Teen Triple P focuses on young people.
There are five key parenting tasks in positive parenting:
- ensuring a safe, engaging (interesting) environment
- creating a positive learning environment and being available to your child
- using assertive discipline
- having realistic expectations of your child
- taking care of yourself as a parent.
For more information on Triple P visit www.19triplep.net
Taking Triple P to the people
Triple P is currently being trialled in South Carolina in the United States with a new twist – promoting positive parenting principles and strategies population-wide.
The trial targeted all families with children in the birth to seven-years-old range. A total of 18 counties participated – nine comparison counties and nine where Triple P was trialled.
To date, the population reach of Triple P has been significant, with more than 600 practitioners trained in Triple P provision and over 12,000 families receiving direct services via Triple P program.
Further results will be reported at the Helping Families Change Conference in 2007, Charleston, South Carolina.