Wednesday, December 14, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Parenting classes benefit all families By Steve Lundeberg Oregon State University CORVALLIS — Parenting education can improve the skills of every mom and dad and the behav- ior of all children, and it particularly benefits fami- lies from low-income or otherwise underserved pop- ulations, a new study from Oregon State University suggests. Researchers examined a sample of more than 2,300 mothers and fathers who par- ticipated in parenting edu- cation series in the Pacific Northwest between 2010 and 2012. The series, designed to support parents of children up to 6 years old, typically lasted nine to 12 weeks and consisted of one one-hour session per week led by a parent education facilita- tor. There was no fee for participants. The study, part of a grow- ing partnership between the OSU College of Public Health and Human Sciences and the Oregon Parenting Education Collaborative to increase access to parenting education for all families, may remove some of the stigma attached to parent- ing education, which has historically been associated with court orders for parents who’ve run afoul of child- protective laws. “Parenting education works across the board,” said John Geldhof, an OSU assistant professor of behav- ioral and health sciences. “All parents can benefit. The way people typically learn parenting is from their par- ents and from books, and often times what they’ve learned is out of date and not the best practices for today. All parents – high income, low income, mandated, not mandated – can benefit from evidence-based parenting education.” Neglectful or otherwise ineffective parenting strate- gies, which can be heightened by economic strain, can put children in jeopardy. While many parenting practices can lead to favorable outcomes in children, research indicates that the optimal combination usually features high levels of support and monitoring and the avoidance of harsh punishment. Those positive outcomes include higher grades, fewer behavior prob- lems, less substance use, bet- ter mental health and greater social competence. Findings of the OSU research, recently pub- lished in Children and Youth Services Review, indicate that parent education series serv- ing predominantly lower- income parents resulted in greater improvements in their skills and their chil- dren’s behaviors compared to series serving higher-income parents. “The results provide pre- liminary evidence that par- enting education may be most effective when it targets underserved populations,” said lead author Jennifer Finders, a graduate student in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences. “Another thing that’s excit- ing — the Oregon Parenting Education Collaborative classes that are offered are general in content, and we’re seeing evidence that they’re being adapted for diverse families. This suggests that the local parenting educators are implementing the pro- grams with fidelity and also with flexibility.” Finders called the results “really great preliminary findings.” “Now we need to better understand the mechanisms that underlie the findings so we can tailor programs to specific families in excit- ing ways for research and for practice,” she said. “This highlights the need for future research that continues to involve the Oregon Parenting Education Collaborative and other researchers at OSU and elsewhere. We think par- ents are gaining knowledge of child development, tools for dealing with the stresses of parenting, and social networks.” The collaborative includes among its leadership Shauna Tominey, assistant profes- sor of practice and parent- ing education specialist at OSU’s Hallie E. Ford Center for Healthy Children & Families, part of the College of Public Health and Human Sciences. The parenting edu- cation series the collabora- tive offers are delivered at no cost to the parents. “Given that the gap is widening between the white, middle-class popu- lation of children and chil- dren belonging to the grow- ing low-income and Latino populations, examining the relative impact of parenting education programs across these diverse populations is essential,” Finders said. “We think parenting educa- tion can have the greatest impact by adapting existing curricula to be culturally rel- evant and sensitive to diverse children and families’ needs.” 27 The Nugget Newspaper Crossword By Jacqueline E. Mathews, Tribune News Service — Last Week’s Puzzle Solved — This Week’s Crossword Sponsors 25% OFF BLINDS AND FREE CORDLESS UPGRADE PLUS EARN UP TO A $500 REBATE! On Signature Series window coverings and motorized control. HURRY! 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