Involving Young People in Parenting Programmes
SECTION 3
3.8 Project Staffs’ Perceptions of Young Peoples’
and Parents’ Experiences
Ninety-seven questionnaires were completed by staff across the projects sites in order to give their views on young peoples’ and parents’ experiences of the project.
Project staffs’ perceptions of young peoples’ attitude to involvement to the intervention before it started and satisfaction after the interventionwere lower than young peoples’ reports. This may be because the staff completed questionnaires on a larger group of young people than those that completed ‘After’ questionnaires, and so it is possible that young people who dropped out or did not complete the questionnaire may have been less satisfied than those who completed, thus staff perceptions were more negative at the ‘After’ stage. They may also have been less confident about young peoples’ satisfaction levels.
Project staff perceived that a majority of parents were ‘very’ or ‘fairly happy’ about their involvement with the intervention before they started it. Moreover, when asked how satisfied they thought the parents were after completing the intervention, staff were even more positive, reporting that they thought over three quarters of parents were ‘very’ or ‘fairly satisfied’.
Staff were also asked to report on their perception of how beneficial the project had been for parents and young people. Again they reported on young people and parents who had completed the intervention as well as those that dropped out. Staff felt there were some benefits overall for young people, for families and for parents. They thought that parents had benefited slightly more than young people had overall.
Five project staff, one from each project site, were interviewed individually to learn more about their views. These staff felt that the project was important for parents in finding support from others and helping them feel as though they were ‘listened to’. Support came from both professionals, whether it was direct advice from the IYPP project workers or help to access other support services, as well as through the solidarity that they had found with other parents, decreasing the parents’ sense of isolation. Parents were also seen to be learning new techniques through the project, including practical ideas such as managing conflict situations with the young person or ideas on compromising. Staff also felt that their work with families reinforced the importance of communication. One project described this as focusing on positive reinforcement, for example by using ‘I’ statements such as ‘I would like’ rather than ‘you will’.
These staff also felt that they could see an improvement in parent’s relationships with their children. As a consequence of this perceived improved communication, staff felt that some parents were taking more of an interest in and praising their children, which saw a ‘growth’ and ‘warmth’ in some relationships. As with the parents, staff believed that young people were beginning to feel listened to and valued as an individual –
You really see the satisfaction they have, that they have turned their life around and things are so much better.
(Project staff at IYPP Project Consultation workshop)
Some staff took the view that although it did not necessarily change behaviour the project was helpful in building self-esteem and helping young people:
Peer pressure, school difficulties, bullying etc. meant the behaviour didn’t always change.
(Project staff at IYPP Project Consultation workshop)
Other project workers commented on young people becoming calmer and managing their anger better, though did not make specific judgements on issues such as truancy, offending and anti-social behaviour.
The five project workers interviewed felt that they could see positive differences in young peoples’ relationships with their parents. They stated that young people were receptive to trying out new ideas, such as how to communicate in a situation of conflict. For those who attended groups with their parents, some of the staff reported that young people would comment on how nice it was to be spending time with their parent(s). Sessions would also give young people a chance to ‘moan’ about home life and get their feelings off their chest.
When asked about the benefits of involving young people in parenting programmes these project staff were uniformly positive about this way of working:
It’s ideal really... We can’t take a young person away and make them better, you can’t take a parent away and make them a better parent. You can do some individual direct work but make that meaningful by bringing them together. (Frank)
Some staff members were ‘amazed’ by how things had improved for some families. In group work, parents were more likely to engage when the young person was present as there was
less emphasis on their role as parents, more on their relationship with the young person.
Staff would notice changes as the sessions progressed, pointing out these differences to the families too. Where parents and young people were seen individually (in a group or on their own), project workers could see them improving in parallel –
You’re working with a young person and mum’s getting a positive response, so mum’s trying more. And the more mum tries, the young person is getting a positive response.
(Project staff at IYPP Project Consultation workshop)
Through the IYPP Project, young people were given the chance to spend time with their parents (group work specific), to look at family relationships and be given a voice in the process. Staff commented on how this was very ‘empowering’ for the young people.
Although these staff promoted the involvement of young people in such programmes, where parents and young people worked together (Family Therapy; Family Skills Training; Family Group Conferences) they still recognised the need for both user groups to have ‘built in space’ to have time out to talk to someone by themselves. Where parents and young people worked separately (Individual Parallel Work; Parallel Groups), staff felt the need for at least one meeting at the end for both parent and child to talk about what they have learnt from the programme. Project workers also spoke of the inevitable issues around the commitment of young people from such an at risk group:
The young people found it difficult to participate when there were lots of other issues going on for them at the same time, or if they were up for a court appearance they felt “what’s the point”. Although when we did catch up sessions with them, on a one-to-one, they engaged a lot better.
All professionals were in agreement that to make these interventions work, both the parent and the young person needed to demonstrate commitment. In the project staff’s opinion the project was seen to be most effective with families that made the investment to attend.