Engaging delivery of curriculum material

Curriculum material is delivered in a variety of ways that engage participants.

How can it be implemented?

Programs introduce material in different ways, some using a mix of delivery modalities. The activities that take place to introduce curriculum material include:

• Conversations with home visitors
• Activities between children and parents such as play-based activities
• Recording video of interactions between children and parents, for review, discussion and coaching
• “Bug in the ear” coaching by program staff, live during play between parent and child
• Group family sessions
• Playgroups
• Group role plays
• Use of digital media, e.g, Video vignettes for review and group discussion, e-modules for completion by parents
• Provision of resources such as calendars, important contacts.

Who is the target group?

This flexible activity has been implemented with several different target groups. Key characteristics include:

• First time mothers who are vulnerable, for example young mothers, single mothers, and families of low socioeconomic status.
• Families at risk using indicators such as education level, single parenthood, employment, history of abuse or neglect, potential for violence, and a history of mental illness, criminality, and drug abuse.
• Families assessed as being likely to benefit from a prevention service.
• African American mothers who have not accessed adequate prenatal care.
• Families with prior contact with child welfare services, or who have been reported for alleged child abuse or neglect.
• Families where the child has shown signs of social behavioural problems; had difficulties with socio-emotional or cognitive development; or the parents lacked parenting skills.
• Culturally diverse communities.
• Multigenerational migrant communities, low-income migrant families, and foster families.
• Low-income Chinese families in Hong Kong.
• Mothers at risk of maltreating their children because of a heavy trauma burden, mental health challenges, or prior removal of a child.

What programs conduct this activity?

Pride in Parenting: The group session format is a 45-minute parent/infant playgroup focused on developmental issues, followed by a 45-minute parent group discussion.

SafeCare: ongoing measurement of observable behaviours, direct observation in role-play situations, skill modelling, practice and feedback.

SafeCare+: ongoing measurement of observable behaviours, direct observation in role-play situations, skill modelling, practice and feedback.

SafeCare Dad2K: ongoing measurement of observable behaviours, direct observation in role-play situations, skill modelling, practice and feedback, use of multimodal learning and modeling of SafeCare target skills through dynamic software-based activities.

Promoting First Relationships: The parent and child are recorded playing together, the provider will then review a recorded play session with the parent. The provider and parent reflect on the recorded interactions, noting what the child is doing in relation to the caregiver’s behaviour and what the caregiver is doing in response to the child.

Johns Hopkins Children and Youth Program: A calendar is given to each parent at the first visit, and includes information on child development, seasonal safety tips, clinic hours, and names and telephone numbers.

Chicago Parent Program: Employs videotaped vignettes, a group discussion format that corresponds to principles being addressed in each of the vignettes, and a collaborative interpersonal style for guiding the way group leaders engage parents in the intervention. Parents receive weekly homework assignments and handouts summarizing important points from each session.

Family Support Program: The program consists of a mix of delivery modalities:

• Individualised sessions with the parents at home
• Individual or group sessions in preschool
• Video-modelling
• Written resources development of the intervention team.

ParentCorps: Face-to-face groups in school settings are provided by trained residents and social workers. The teachers who co-lead the family program receive a professional development program which includes large group-based activities to introduce strategies and consultation to facilitate the adoption and tailoring of strategies.

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: PCIT skills are taught via didactic presentations to parents and direct coaching of parents while they are interacting with their children. Parent–child dyads are observed through a one-way mirror and, by using a bug-in-the-ear device, parents are coached to attend to the child’s behaviours consistently and predictably.

The Incredible Years Shortened Basic Version: Parents improve their parenting skills through practice with their child, paralleled by role play and discussion in groups of parents.

The Incredible Years Preschool BASIC Parenting Program Enhanced with Home Visits: Parents improve their parenting skills through practice with their child, paralleled by role play and discussion in groups of parents. This version of the program involves the addition of home visits.

Parent Training Program: Three approaches are used to facilitate the learning process: metaphor (using the living plant as a symbol of growth and nurturing); peer learning (encouraging parents to learn from each other through group discussion); and role playing and planning.

Group Attachment-based Intervention: The program is delivered in a multifamily clinical setting with group activities. There is (1) a specified time for parents and children under 3 years of age to interact with one another, (2) a time for parents to interact with other parents while their children experience individual time with their age-mates in the presence of trained clinicians who help them to engage with peers; and (3) a “reunion” where children and parents are together again for a period that signals the end of a session. Video filming and video feedback is an important component.

Further resources