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NEWSLETTER No. 68 Apr 2009
Family Caring Trust
Tel: 028-30264174 (Fax 30269077) Website: familycaring.co.uk
E-mail
office@familycaring.co.uk
Michael Quinn

Dear Colleagues,

QUESTIONS ABOUT QUESTIONNAIRES…

Someone asked recently if she could make some changes to the questionnaires before and after a course (see our website). Of course you can! Just remember that we need to measure the same things before and after. <br>Ours are universal-type programmes, so most of you are working in preventative care. If you are working in remedial care, however, dealing with parents who have been referred to you or who are facing more serious problems, it can be important to use a questionnaire that has been scientifically validated. I know that an increasing number of you use the Parent Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) or the Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory in dealing with parents who face more serious problems. Other questionnaires that are valued include the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Alabama Parent Q. You can google any of these

and you can normally download and use them free of charge when you are working on a not-for-profit basis.

CAN’T MEET THE NEW STANDARDS?

Some of you have written to me worried about new regulations that insist on higher qualifications for parent facilitators. Local Authorities do receive money to use for Adult Learning, etc., and it is true that they will only give money to deliver work with parents if the facilitators have a recognised teaching/training qualification. Remember, though, that this only applies to organisations that are seeking public funding. Otherwise, you do not need to worry about specific qualifications – but you do need to have high standards of training for your facilitators, and particularly for anyone working in remedial care.

THE BEST THINGYOU CAN DO FOR YOUR CHILDREN?

Penny Mansfield of One Plus One was speaking recently at a NCT Conference and quoted a finding of the Family and Parenting Institute: “70% of teenagers say that one of the most important factors in raising happy children is parents getting on well. Only 30% of parents agree. And research shows that the children are right.” The close link between parenting and the couple relationship (when there is a couple) is one of the reasons why Family

Caring Trust developed its ‘Couple Alive’ Programme to supplement parent support. But, as the quotation above implies, parents can feel quite happy attending a parenting programme but may feel threatened when it comes to the adult-adult relationship. I think this is one reason why our parenting programmes have been a lot more successful than our couple programme! Still, it’s nice to know of research confirming the old adage that “the best thing you can do for your children is to love your partner.”
A new report from the Family and Parenting Institute (again, you can google it) identifies factors that contribute to both positive and negative couple relationships. It also outlines the range of services available for couples at different stages of their development, and it weighs up what is known about the effectiveness of the services that are available. The report makes some suggestions about how to ensure that these services reach more couples.
Anyway, I hope you can all manage to relax and enjoy the longer evenings!
Best wishes.


…best for your children?

 
 

WHY WE PREFER THESE COURSES

Both my colleague and I have trained to run various different programmes, including Webster Stratton, but we have chosen to use the Family Caring Trust materials because they are both easy-to-run and highly accessible to the parents coming on the courses. We have now been facilitating the 0-6 and 5-15 parenting programmes for eight years and are about to start our 86th group!
As facilitators (with backgrounds in School Nursing and Health Visiting ) we like your programmes and find that they are well received by the parents and that they evaluate very well – we ourselves use the Eyberg Questionnaire pre and post each course and this helps to highlight the changes that occur as a result of attending a programme. Our evaluations show that many parents value the materials and we have numerous parent comments that explain how the course has helped their family.
We often find it frustrating to see programmes like Webster Stratton and Triple P being pushed so much by health authorities, etc .,because they have been extensively evaluated. I just wish that the Family Caring Trust materials, which we rate so highly, could be made available to more people.
Hilary Swan, Community Health Worker Sudbury Suffolk


‘PARENTING TEENAGERS’

I was pleased to see the 0-6s and 5–15s courses are on the Toolkit for Commisssioners, but I was disappointed that ‘Parenting Teenagers’ is not included. Can you tell me why this is? We have just run a Parenting Teens course with excellent feedback and my Training Manager, who led the course with another facilitator,

said that she found it very good.
Rosie Novis, Billericay Parents Forum.

Editor: ‘Parenting Teenagers’ is still available, of course, but we decided to remove it from the Commissioner's Toolkit because we did not have the finance to commission a full-scale scientific evaluation such as has been done for the other two parenting courses. However, those who have used it have no doubts about how effective and helpful it is – after all, it teaches the same skills and uses the exact same methodology as the other two courses, so it obviously meets the same high standards. If we had left it on the Toolkit, however, it would have appeared to be less effective than we know it to be because it would have been judged merely on the limited research that has been done on it. It's one of the snags of not being one of the bigger 'wealthy' organisations!

Feedback

THAT DINNER GAME

Part of my work as a counsellor is at a secondary school. Young people can find counselling difficult in the initial sessions, so I’ve been using your Family Dinner Game to break the ice and have found it immensely

helpful. The young people warm to the game, especially as I take part and share with them, and it allows me to find out little things about their lives which they might not normally share. It’s also great fun at times and makes them laugh which is wonderful to see. Thank you for such a great resource.
Chris Lee, Twickenham


PARENTS WERE SHOCKED!

I am leading a Fives to Fifteens programme in Bramhall, the first parenting programme in this area which is great – we have eight parents attending and hopefully I’ll get a few new leaders out of it. In Session 4 they were a bit shocked to hear the parent on the DVD say (as a ‘helpful listening’ comment!) “It's awful when you feel ugly. I hate it when I feel ugly too.” They considered that was too strong a word to use and might not help the child. What are your thoughts on that?
Clara Donnelly, Wallasey, Merseyside

Editor: If the parents in your group are reacting to something we have to listen to that, so I’m sorry I’ve used a word which they don’t find helpful – I would not want to retain it in a new edition of the DVD. Thank them for pointing this out and remind them that there is nothing infallible in the programme anyway. The course is to get them to reflect on things and make their own decisions about their children.

AND IN JAPAN…

I could give you many examples of how Japanese families who have been struggling with their parenting are now being transformed by your course.
Midori Nishizawa, Kobe, Japan

   
 

WHAT’S WRONG WITH EVALUATIONS?

There is nothing wrong with good evaluation. We owe it to parents, to ourselves, to our colleagues and to our funders. Nor is there any need to be frightened of it. In fact, it is something that we do all the time. I am evaluating when I think, “That went well, I’ll do it again, only next time I’ll also…”

Not merely ‘before and after’
It may not be helpful to think of evaluation as a mere ‘before and after’ event. It is much more. In our work evaluation can be an ongoing process where we are not just relying on hindsight but keeping some records at each stage of a programme. After all, we are measuring change in order to make changes – not just to pat ourselves on the back!
After every session of a programme we can be evaluating, noting what needs to be changed in order to meet the needs of the group. Funders say that facilitators need to be ‘faithful’ to the programme, but being faithful to a Family Caring programme means being willing to change it, to be flexible in meeting the different needs of unique people from different social or ethnic backgrounds.

Evaluation can be an ongoing process

The NHS may want…

Good evaluation, then, has to look at all the various needs being met, including community development. It is unfortunate that there is sometimes a narrow focus on cost-effectiveness and on providing evidence for funders which is often based on a medical model rather than a community health model. Quantitative ‘before and after’ evidence is an important element, but it is only part of the picture. The NHS may want to measure parent effectiveness, but parents coming on a course may have different priorities – even getting a break from their children and meeting other adults. These are also important health needs that can be part of an evaluation!

We are measuring change in order to make changes

Many of you will recognise that this kind of evaluation is already built into our programmes. That is the reason for encouraging parents to begin a session by telling how things have been for them over the past week – and for taking a little time at the end of a session to get some feedback from them. This also values the parents and involves them in the evaluation and any changes that are needed. So it is good to be aware of the importance of these sections in facilitating ongoing evaluation and change.

The ideas in this article come from a little ‘cutting-edge’ booklet by Lois Graessle and Su Kingsley, published by London Community Health Resource. Unfortunately, it is no longer in print, but it is still very relevant.

A column for those promoting the courses as part of ministry in their own faith tradition

What’s the point of meditation?

The quotation below fits exactly with the Family Caring Trust’s thinking – that spirituality needs to be grounded in daily family living.
“People complain to me, ‘I have meditated for twelve years but somehow I haven’t changed. I am still the same. Why?’ Because there is an abyss between their spiritual practice and their everyday life. They seem to exist in two separate worlds which do not inspire each other at all.
Modern spiritual practitioners lack the knowledge of how to integrate their meditation practice with everyday life. I cannot say it strongly enough: to integrate meditation in action is the whole ground and point and purpose of meditation.
How do we achieve this integration? I always tell my students not to come out of meditation too quickly: allow some minutes for the peace of the practice of meditation to infiltrate your life. Don’t jump up and rush off, but mingle your mindfulness with everyday life. Let the wisdom, insight, compassion, humour and detachment that meditation brought you pervade your day-to-day experience…”
from ‘The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying’ £5.99 (Amazon) ISBN 978-1-84-604105-1.
 
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PROGRAMME

NOUGHTS TO SIXES PARENTING PROGRAMME 
Kit includes 2 Guides, handbook, 25 certs, DVD
and video.

FIVES TO FIFTEENS PARENTING PROGRAMME  (Kit includes 2 Guides, handbook, 25 certs,
DVD and video)

TEEN-PARENTING PROGRAMME
(Kit includes 2 Guides, handbook,
25 certs, DVD and video) 

PARENT ASSERTIVENESS PROGRAMME  (Kit includes
2 Guides, handbook, DVD
and video.) 

PARENTING AND SEX PROGRAMME  (Kit is just 2
Guides and a handbook)

COUPLE ALIVE
PROGRAMME
 
(Kit includes 2 Guides, handbook and video)

YOUNG ADULT PROGRAMME
(Kit includes 2 Guides, handbook, video and 25
certs)

FAMILY DINNER GAME ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

family

ITEM
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VALUE
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STG
EURO
Required
Sterling
Euro
DVD or Video
Boxed Kit
£76.56/
€98.85
________
£______
€______
Parent's Handbook (pink)
£6.95/
€8.70
________
£______
€______
Addit. copy Leader's Guide
£8.50/
€10.60
________
£______
€______
Additional DVD or Video
£32.48/
€42.52
________
£______
€______
_____
Additional pack 25 Certs
£2.88/
€3.65
________
£______
€______
Boxed Kit
£72.83/
€94.30
£______
€______
Parent's Handbook (yellow)
£6.95/
€8.70
________
£______
€______
Addit. copy Leader's Guide
£8.50/
€10.60
________
£______
€______
Additional DVD or Video
£28.75/
€37.97
________
£______
€______
_____
Boxed Kit
£76.56/
€98.85
________
£______
€______
Parent's Handbook (green)
£6.95/
€8.70
________
£______
€______
Addit. copy Leader's Guide
£8.50/
€10.60
________
£______
€______
Additional DVD or Video
£32.48/
€42.52
________
£______
€______
_____
Boxed Kit
£65.67/
€85.00
£______
€______
Parent Handbook (turquoise)
£6.95/
€8.70
________
£______
€______
Addit. copy Leader's Guide
£8.50/
€10.60
________
£______
€______
Additional DVD or Video
£24.47/
€32.32
________
£______
€______
_____
Kit
£23.95/
€29.90
________
£______
€______
Parent's Handbook (red)
£6.95/
€8.70
________
£______
€______
Addit. copy Leader's Guide
£8.50/
€10.60
________
£______
€______
Boxed Kit
£52.70/
€67.87
________
£______
€______
Participant H’book (orange)
£6.95/
€8.70
________
£______
€______
Addit. copy Leader's Guide
£8.50/
€10.60
________
£______
€______
Additional copy of Video
£28.75/
€37.97
________
£______
€______
Boxed kit
£56.15/
€72.27
________
£______
€______
Participant H’book (white)
£6.95/
€8.70
________
£______
€______
Addit. copy Leader's Guide
£8.50/
€10.60
________
£______
€______
Additional copy of Video
£29.32/
€38.72
________
£______
€______
Addit. 25 assertiveness certs
£2.88/
€3.65
________
£______
€______
Boxed game
£14.49/
€19.14
________
£______
€______
Facilitator-Training Guide
£11.66/
€15.50
________
£______
€______
Introductory DVD/Video
£4.89/
€6.45
________
£______
€______
_____
Leader's CD
£4.89/
€6.45
________
£______
€______
             
POST FREE (but add £2/ €3  for orders under £20 or  €30.........
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TOTAL............
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I enclose cheque payable to FAMILY CARING for
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FAMILY CARING 44 Rathfriland Road, NEWRY, Co. Down BT34 1LD
Tel
028-3026-4174 (Fax  no. 028-3026-9077) 
From Republic of Ireland replace 028 with 048
WEBSITE: www.familycaring.co.uk  EMAIL: office@familycaring.co.uk

 
 
 
 

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