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LESSONS LEARNED for: FIRA 2008: Diversity, Visibility, Community October 2008. Today’s parents:. Many pregnancies are unplanned. Some parents are mentally and emotionally unprepared to become parents. Increasingly Canadian couples are separating when their children are young.
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LESSONS LEARNED for: FIRA 2008: Diversity, Visibility, Community October 2008
Today’s parents: • Many pregnancies are unplanned. • Some parents are mentally and emotionally unprepared to become parents. • Increasingly Canadian couples are separating when their children are young. • Many couples experience a: • Crash of expectations after the baby is born • Substantial increase in conflicts and disagreements with the birth of their 1st baby. • Depressive symptoms are high.
The HALO… The prenatal mindset: • The perfect baby • Couple relationship will be enhanced • The ideal family.
We believe • Parenting is a lifelong journey in which the first two years are particularly critical and set the stage for the future. • Mothers and Fathers are equally important members of the parenting team. • A healthy parental couple relationship enhances both child and family wellness. • Parents learn best when able to connect with other parents in a similar stage of the parental journey.
Parenting Initiative To develop and test The Parenting Partnership program • For couples expecting their 1st baby • Begins during pregnancy and lasts until babies’ 1st birthday. • Weekly on-line sessions, with 7 face-to-face sessions prenatally and monthly after birth. • Led by 2 person teams of Health Educator & Counsellor • 3 modules: • Pregnancy to Birth • Birth to 6 months • 7 – 14 months
The Curriculum BLENDED DELIVERY MODEL: • 65 weekly web sessions containing: • 700 articles and activities • 350 related resources • 7 prenatal and 14 post-natal face-to-face sessions Covers: e.g., fetal and infant development, labour and delivery, health promotion, couple relationship, mental health, parenting and child development, etc.
Evaluation steps Development Testing – are there early warning signals? • Done! Process Evaluation – have we created a program that parents and Parent Educators find beneficial and is delivered with fidelity across a range of sites? • Pretest 1 and 2 concluded. • Pretest 3 underway * * * * * Impact Evaluation – do program families benefit more than non-program families? Longitudinal Follow-up – does the impact last?
Our assumptions: • Content: lots available; appropriate for mothers and fathers • Parent Educator teams: 1 male; 1 female • Attendance: fathers < mothers • Drop-outs: fathers > mothers
CONTENT • Almost all existing CONTENT was flawed: • too academic, • paternalistic, • un-engaging, • old-fashioned, • not evidence-based and/or • not father-friendly.
Steps to address: • Asked fathers what topics THEY needed to be and feel supported in their role: • Finances, RESPs • Their role in labour and baby’s development • Identified critical father adjustment issues and incorporated them into curriculum: • Fathers’ pre/postnatal moods • Fathers’ stresses • Father/Mother expectations re caregiving, HH chores; finances; employment; daycare…
MALE PARENT EDUCATORS • Too few in the professions • Strategies to address re female/female PE teams: • Incorporate Dad/Dad and Mom/Mom breakout periods in some sessions • A few Father Only sessions. • Have same female PE facilitate every Dad/Dad session.
DROP-OUTS Expected Dads to drop out after baby born. • 1st session after baby was born = Dads Only • Dads bonded! Expected Dads to drop out, but Moms stay. • Couples dropped out, not Dads only. • Occurred with no warning. • If missed 1st class, much higher probability of dropping out.
ATTENDANCE Attendance: no indication that Moms, more than Dads stick with the course. • Dads only slightly less than Moms: • Dads = 274 person sessions; Moms = 290 • 4 out of 5 top attenders were Dads.
Dads only sessions Incredibly rewarding for the new dads A heartfelt need to share their stories with the other fathers, without their partners in the room. The Fathers expressed a sense of being on the sidelines to their partners & babies. The Dads’ sessions provides a forum to share their feelings, some of which they may not want to reveal to their partners.
The results… Fathers love the program. They gained what we hoped they would. Knowledge Confidence Skills Connections “The program took me though the whole arc of what to expect.” “I felt prepared – I was conscious of what is possible.” “It helped me to deal with my spouse and the changes we were going through.” “Now I’m part of a group of people that are not afraid to share their experiences.” “The instructors have so much credibility. You trust them and their experience.”
Parent Educators As we hoped, they have become big advocates of the program. Professional Fulfillment: “When I first signed up to do this I had no idea what a wonderful experience that this would be – not just for the parents but for myself as well.” Acclamation: “I wish this wonderful resource was available to my husband and myself when we were having our first baby!” Co-leadership: “After spending this year with my co-leader I am pleased to say that we both found the experience enriching. It afforded us opportunity for expansion of our areas of expertise through the sharing of information and the support we provided each other.” Preparation: “The support and training provided by Invest in Kids was an important part of the success I have enjoyed as an educator.”
