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The Hexagon: An Exploration Tool
The Hexagon can be used as a planning tool to guide selection and evaluate potential programs and practice for use.
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Core Components
The Parents Plus Adolescent’s Programme is a supportive universal programme that can also be delivered as a targeted intervention for parents with adolescents aged 11-16, including adolescents with special needs. The programme aims to support parents to develop warm relationships with their teenagers, to reduce conflict and support them to grow up as well-adjusted and happy adults. The programme can be delivered to groups or as an individual educational parenting programme in a wide range of settings including Primary Care, School, Health, Disability and Mental Health Services.
Parents Plus Adolescent’s Programme aims to help parents become responsive to their adolescents needs and their own needs. It highlights practical strategies that parents can adopt to support the development of a positive relationship with their young person, build the young person’s self-esteem and confidence, manage and resolve conflict, positively discipline their adolescents, negotiate rules and boundaries and solve problems together. It also aims to help reduce parental stress.
Parents Plus Adolescent’s Programme is a manualised programme led by 2 facilitators who are trained professionals in the field of childcare, mental health, family support and education. The programme is delivered to small groups over 6 – 12 weekly sessions with each session lasting 2.5 hours. An operationalised weekly group session structure is provided for practitioners.
Core materials include a comprehensive Facilitator manual with session protocols; two hours of DVD footage with over 60 real and role-played scenes of family interactions; two Parent Books with detailed handouts and worksheets; a Parenting Together book and poster to highlight key programme components. Additional materials are accessible via a special members section on the website.
Fidelity
The Parent Plus Adolescent’s programme includes a Parents Plus Quality Protocol which is designed to be used by facilitators to maintain both the delivery format and the client-centred/strengths-based principles at the heart of the programme. The protocol includes:
Establishing client centred goals with families with underpinning checklists
Following the core evidence-based principles of the programmes
Gaining session by session feedback from clients to ensure progress
Setting aside a weekly reflective space in supervision to review client progress and their own practice.
In addition to the Quality Protocol (1) Standardised training (2) Agency organisational supports including a manual and range of materials/tools and (3) Coaching and Accreditation programmes aim to support effective replication and fidelity.
Modifiable Components
This universal/targeted programme runs for 6-12 weeks and materials for this programme are available in English. Delivery in community settings is usually a shorter number of sessions – over six to eight group sessions, while delivery in specialist settings is longer – eight to twelve sessions which includes targeted individual sessions for families.
Facilitators, following the core programme format, can modify to include some additional content (e.g. drugs and alcohol input or input on sexuality or LGBQT issues etc as needed with the particular client group) which is explained in the manual and sample session plans for additional content are included. The programme is also suitable for parents of children with additional needs.
Parents Plus is based in Dublin where agencies can access organisational support. The Parents Plus Adolescent’s Programme is one of seven programmes.
Support for Organisation / Practice
Implementation Support
Parents Plus offers implementation support in the form of an agency readiness guide available for sites considering implementation. Additional support can be provided to agencies to implement and evaluate the roll out of the Parents Plus Programmes. Parents Plus also offer support to promote and market new organisation’s programmes to get them off the ground along with advice on evaluating outcomes. Any data collected is the property and responsibility of the implementing site. Data analysis can be provided by Parents Plus at an additional cost.
Implementation supports also include a meeting with site managers and Parents Plus trainers approximately 6 months prior to initial training to address the implementation requirements and licensing guidelines. Service managers are expected to attend this meeting to ensure that they are fully aware of and in agreement with the implementation requirements. The organisation is required to form a steering group, consisting of potential referrers, funders and managers, to oversee the implementation and appointing of a co-ordinator.
Licensing Requirements
A license is required to deliver the programme and licensing guidelines listing the conditions for use by facilitators are available.
Start-up Costs
Scheduled training is held face to face and online. The following training options are available for Parents Plus Adolescent’s Programme:
3-day training (9.30am – 4.30pm) face to face or via 5 online workshops (9.30am – 1.30pm) - €490 per person.
Onsite training, upon request and depending on the number of trainees, costing between €200 - €400 per attendee (excluding trainer accommodation and travel).
Parents Booklets – pack of 15 parent booklets which includes worksheets and handouts - €120.
Follow-up Costs:
Accreditation package costs €350 including submission of portfolio for review.
Individual supervision 1-hour in duration per session costs €60 per facilitator.
Group supervision is offered via ½ day workshops with a focus on meeting other facilitators and sharing practice issues - costs €60 per facilitator.
Parents Plus also offer periodic ½ day advanced practice workshops that trained facilitators can sign up for at low or no cost.
Building Staff Competency
Qualifications Required
Facilitator training is only open to trained professionals in the field of childcare, mental health, family support and education professionals such as social workers, speech and language therapists, teachers, public health nurses, health visitors, psychologists, and psychiatrists.
Training Requirements
Facilitators are required to attend a programme specific three-day (9.30-4.30pm) face to face training course, which is also available as 5 online workshops (9.30-1.30pm) before delivering Parents Plus materials to parents. The content of the training covers three core areas (1) Understanding the Parents Plus Adolescent’s Programme (2) Delivering Individual and Family Sessions (3) Facilitating Groups with Parents. Facilitators will also be given the opportunity to practice the skills in role play and will receive feedback and support.
A train the trainer model is available to ensure a long-term, sustainable benefit for facilitators’ communities and organisations.
Supervision Requirements
Parents Plus offer post-training support to assist Facilitators in the delivery of their groups in the form of Supervision, Advanced Practice Groups and Individual Supervision available face to face or via Skype.
Supervision is a requirement and it is recommended that a mixture of individual and group sessions is undertaken. Two follow-up supervision sessions, typically of a 50-60-minute duration, are included in the cost of the training to be undertaken in the first 12 months post training. Ongoing supervision thereafter is available, individual supervision €60 (1 hour) and group supervision workshop €60 (3.5 hours).
An established Accreditation process is available for facilitator’s who wish to pursue this option. The full Accreditation package, which includes four supervision sessions, accreditation submission with portfolio review, is available at a cost of €350.
Theory of Change
Parents Plus programmes are grounded in developmental psychology, social learning theory, solution-focused therapy and family system theory and therapyThe overarching practice framework is solution focused systemic therapy. Group facilitators work collaboratively with families to help them set and achieve their goals. This involves the use of role play and video modelling. Parents practice new skills at home and receive strength-based feedback from the facilitators. Parents’ goals are reviewed at each session and adaptations are made to the programme if needed.
Primary school: 6 to 12 years - Rating: 4
Research Design & Number of Studies
The best evidence for children within the age range of 6-12 comes from one Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), conducted externally in conjunction with the programme developers, and one Non-Randomised Controlled Trial (NRCT) conducted internally, reported in a meta-analysis. The first trial population included 126 parents with children aged 10-16 years and a mean age of 12.34 years and the second trial included parents of 55 adolescents aged between 11-15 years.
Outcomes Achieved
Child Outcomes
Significant positive effects of the parenting intervention with respect to adolescent behaviour problems at post treatment and six-month follow-up. (Nitsch, E. et al., 2015).
Large effect sizes, post treatment comparisons on global measures of child difficulties. (Nitsch, E. et al., 2015).
Adolescents significantly improved in terms of total difficulties, peer difficulties, and conduct problems on the SDQ. (Carr, A. et al., 2016).
Parent Outcomes
Significant positive effects of the parenting intervention with respect to parenting stress at post treatment and six-month follow-up. (Nitsch, E. et al., 2015).
Parent reported parent child relationships significantly improved. (Carr, A. et al., 2016).
Key References
Carr, A., Hartnett, D., Brosnan, E., Sharry, J. (2016). Parents Plus Systemic, Solution-Focused Parent Training Programs: Description, Review of the Evidence Base, and Meta-Analysis. Family Process. doi: 10.1111/famp.12225
Nitsch, E., Hannon, G., Rickard, E., Houghton, S. & Sharry, J. (2015) Positive parenting: a randomised controlled trial evaluation of the Parents Plus Adolescent Programme in schools. Child Adolescent Psychiatry Mental Health 9 (43). DOI 10.1186/s13034-015-0077-0.
Adolescents: 13 to 18 years - Rating: 4
Research Design & Number of Studies
The best evidence for Parents Plus Adolescent’s Programme for adolescents in the age range of 13-18 years comes from one Randomised Control Trial and one Non-Randomised Control Trial, both conducted by the programme developer. These studies included children from age 10-16 and 11-15 years old. Evidence outcomes for the age range 13-18 years is the same as for the 6-12 years evidence above.
Key References
Carr, A., Hartnett, D., Brosnan, E., Sharry, J. (2016). Parents Plus Systemic, Solution-Focused Parent Training Programs: Description, Review of the Evidence Base, and Meta-Analysis. Family Process. doi: 10.1111/famp.12225
Nitsch, E., Hannon, G., Rickard, E., Houghton, S. & Sharry, J. (2015) Positive parenting: a randomised controlled trial evaluation of the Parents Plus Adolescent Programme in schools. Child Adolescent Psychiatry Mental Health 9 (43). DOI 10.1186/s13034-015-0077-0.
Need
Comparable Population
The Parents Plus Adolescent’s Programme is aimed at parents of adolescents including those with additional needs, who wish to develop warm relationships with their teenagers to reduce conflict and support them to grow up as well-adjusted and happy adults. Group leaders work collaboratively with parents in a solution focused, strength-based way to achieve their goals.
Research has been undertaken with parents of adolescents aged 10-16 years, delivered as a preventative programme in the community school setting, particularly targeting those in the last year of primary school and first year of secondary school.
Does your organisation have contact with families who would benefit from this intervention? Are you likely to receive sufficient referrals to populate recurring groups? Do you have existing initiatives that would be supportive of addressing this need and achieving these outcomes?
Desired Outcome
The Parents Plus Adolescent’s Programme is a supportive universal/targeted intervention designed to be delivered in the community setting for parents with adolescents aged 11-16 years, who wish to establish strategies to manage conflict, build self-esteem and confidence, create warm connected relationships with positive disciplines and transparent negotiation around rules and boundaries, whilst solving problems together.
Research has demonstrated significant positive effects of the parenting intervention with respect to adolescent behaviour problems at post treatment and six-month follow-up and large effect sizes, post treatment comparisons on global measures of child difficulties. From a parental perspective significant positive effects on parenting stress were also identified.
Is supporting parents to use positive discipline strategies, manage conflict with their adolescent and create warm connected relationships aligned with the service’s intended outcomes? Is supporting parents to build their child’s self-esteem and confidence aligned with the service’s intended outcomes? Do you have other existing initiatives that would be supportive of addressing this need and achieving these outcomes?
Need Score
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Fit
Values
Parents Plus believes in empowering the professionals and families they work with. The programme is focused on encouraging teenagers and parents to achieve their potential with training focused on encouraging professionals to achieve the highest standards of excellence. The Parent Plus Adolescent’s programme is designed help parents develop warm relationship with their teenagers to reduce conflict and enable their teenagers to grow up as well-adjusted and happy adults.
Is the delivery of Parents Plus Adolescent’s Programme aligned with the key values of your organisation?
Priorities
The Parents Plus Adolescent’s programme can be utilised as a supportive educational programme that prioritises being teenage-focused, skills-based, promotes positive communication, creation of warm and connected relationships, negotiating rules and boundaries to solve problems together.
Is working with parents and adolescents to develop warm nurturing relationships to enable teenagers to grow up as well-adjusted happy adults a current priority for your organisation?
Existing Initiatives
Will this programme fit with the existing parenting interventions in your area?
Fit Score
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Capacity
Workforce
Parents Plus Adolescent’s Programme requires 2 trained facilitators who are professionals trained in the field of childcare, mental health, family support and education to deliver each parenting group over a period of 6–12 weeks for 2.5 hrs per week. In addition, it is recommended that facilitators set aside 1-1.5 hrs for weekly review and planning time (an additional 1-2 hrs are required when running a group for the first time), reflection and form completion necessary for accreditation which requires 0.5-1 hr and facilitators pursuing accreditation which require 5-15 hrs for portfolio completion.
Do you have practitioners with the recommended level of qualification who would be interested in becoming group facilitators? Do these practitioners have experience working with parents in a group setting and working in a collaborative, solution focussed way to support families? Do you have practitioners available with the capacity to deliver the full requirements of this programme?
The programme requires a supervisor from the implementing agency to oversee delivery on a weekly basis and provide support and guidance for any issues that may arise.
Do you have appropriate staff experienced in supervising others, available to be trained and provide weekly supervision to the practitioners?
Technology Support
Essential equipment required to run the programme include a computer and use of filming equipment to maintain fidelity and submit practitioner’s films for the accreditation process.
Do you have the technology to support practitioners to deliver the programme? Will staff have regular access to a computer for remote supervision meetings?
Administrative Support
Parents Plus advises a steering group to oversee the implementation of the programme. This includes the appointment of a co-ordinator. In addition, recruitment of parents, receiving referrals, collecting and reporting on evaluation data and feedback, printing of materials along with co-ordinating cycles of delivery of the programme requires administrative support.
Does your current organisational structure have the capacity to set up and monitor implementation processes? Would you be able to recruit a co-ordinator with the capacity to take on this role? Do your current administrative procedures support your practitioners to implement a programme like this? Do you have use of facilities that are suitable and available for the duration of the group?
Financial Support
Start-up costs include individual training €490 and materials per person; parent booklets at €120; training as part of an onsite cohort costing between €200 - €400; supervision (individual or group) at a cost of €60 per person per session.
Do you have the finances to pay for practitioners to attend this training and be released from their role to deliver the group? Do you have the finances to support practitioners undertake supervision and to go through the accreditation process? Do you have the finances to pay for workbooks for parents and the printing of worksheets, leaflets and handouts for the delivery of the programme? Is there access to finances to provide refreshments for the parents for the duration of the group?
Capacity Score
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