It was explained that these
pretests were part of the evaluation process and that participants would
be asked to take the tests again as post-tests.
All participants were asked
to sign a contract stating they would participate in exchange for $150
per family. Instructors kept track of attendance and had the participants
take the posttests during the last class session. Within two weeks of
the last class, all participants were also interviewed by telephone
(except two who did not have telephones). The data collected from these
interviews was included in the overall results. After the telephone
interviews, families were mailed their check and a certificate of completion.
Results
The most significant finding from evaluating this pilot project was
that the results produced by each model were not significantly different
from those of the other models. All participants seemed to believe their
specific needs were met. With either phase of the evaluation process
(whether pretest/posttest or telephone interview), a different model
would appear to be statistically more effective although the difference
between any of the results was minor.
More than 90% of the persons
who began this project completed it. Given the target population, this
was unexpected. Had a control group been used, this phenomena might
be explainable; however, since none had been used, one can only speculate
that incentives play a major role in parenting programs such as these.
The incentives for participating
in this project were $150 and social service agency referral. These
incentives helped get people to the first session. Prior to the first
session each person was sent a letter thanking him or her in advance
for being willing to participate, and all those with telephones were
called as a reminder before classes started the following week.
This extra attention and
handholding through letters and telephone calls was also used to get
people to the first session of their class. From then on, the individual
instructors and classes created their own momentum to keep people attending.
In fact, during a telephone interview, one participant said that she
didn't really like being there in the beginning but came to greatly
enjoy the class and looked forward to it each week. This was a reflection
on the quality of the instructors and the materials.
All information available
indicates that the model presented on the two consecutive full Saturdays
was the least effective in accomplishing long-term increases in parenting
skills. This is to be expected, however, since only short-term results
could be measured. Ideally, for long-term effects to be accurately measured,
an evaluation instrument would be administered again six months after
the completion of class.
Although the content of the
Saturday class was excellent, the structure of the class-requiring that
learning take place in just two days-limited the amount of possible
true learning. The ideal for all parenting models would be to provide
on-going follow-up class.
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