ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: Programe for parents of preschoolers getting results

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Programe for parents of preschoolers getting results
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/VG3URTtQpIw/131129102315.htm
Nov 29th 2013, 15:23

Nov. 29, 2013 — The results indicated that completion of the HOPE-20 program generated significant improvement in the children's mastery of preschool concepts and language skills, reduced the children's behavior problems, lowered the stress of their parents, and fostered the parents' sense of competence.
With sponsorship of Lo Ying Shek Chi Wai Foundation, the Department of Applied Social Sciences of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), and the Department of Social Work and Social Administration of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) have developed the HOPE-20 training program for parents of two-year-old children. This is one of the first locally-developed evidence-based parent education programs for such young children.
The study titled "The efficacy of the HOPE-20 program for parents of 2-year-old children" was jointly completed by Professor Cynthia Leung, Department of Applied Social Sciences, PolyU, and Dr Sandra Tsang JP, Associate Professor, Department of Social Work and Social Administration, HKU. The study evaluated the efficacy of the HOPE-20 program for parents of 2-year-old children, using a randomized controlled trial design. The results indicated that completion of the HOPE-20 program generated significant improvement in the children's mastery of preschool concepts and language skills, reduced the children's behavior problems, lowered the stress of their parents, and fostered the parents' sense of competence.
HOPE-20 is a parent education program conducted through 20 two-hour group sessions designed for parents of two-year-old children. The content included strategies to enhance parent-child relationship, promote child learning and language, and strategies to increase positive behavior and manage inappropriate behavior. Each session consisted of mini-lectures, discussion, and role play. Parents must complete five-minute daily activities with their children between sessions. The program was delivered by trained social workers in nursery schools.
The program was locally developed and fine-tuned after a pilot test. A randomized controlled trial was then conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the program. A total of 173 parents of two-year-old children from 18 nursery schools participated in the study and were randomly assigned into the intervention group, or the wait-list control group, which received the intervention only after the comparison study was completed. The intervention group included 110 participants from 10 nursery schools. At post-intervention, it was found that the children of the intervention group participants showed significant improvements in their mastery of preschool concepts and language skills. The intervention group participants reported fewer child behavior problems, lower parental stress and higher parenting sense of competence.
Professor Cynthia Leung says, "The results indicated that HOPE-20 was an effective universal parent training program, bringing benefits to both the parents and their children." Dr Sandra Tsang adds, "Though we ask parents to spend more time with their children, they do not necessarily know how to interact with their children. The HOPE-20 program provides a concrete and practical set of activities."
With policy support and close collaboration with social services centers, the team hopes nursery schools territory-wide will adopt this program to enhance the development of young children and the competence of their parents.
Sponsored by the Lo Ying Shek Chi Wai Foundation, the HOPE-20 project team is offering three training workshops for practitioners in the field, including psychologists, health professionals, social workers, and early childhood educators. Upon completion of the compulsory sessions, participants will be eligible to collect the program manual and relevant materials and deliver the HOPE-20 program in their work settings.
Dr Lo Ka Shui, Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Foundation, says, "Although the design of this parental training program may have just ended, this is only the beginning of a long endeavor. We hope NGOs and district groups will continue to refine the parental training program and proactively incorporate parental training into their services. At the same time, we are advocating for the Government to increase its investment in this area, so as to make parental training a core component of early childhood development and facilitate the introduction of parental training to all nurseries in Hong Kong."
Ms Christine Fang BBS JP, Chief Executive of The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, adds, "Early intervention is the key to resolving many family issues. The HOPE-20 program provides an opportunity for social workers to get in closer touch with parents of young children and help them develop healthy parenting habits and attitudes."
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