Life Space Crisis Intervention - A Family Supporting Intervention -

1. Life Space Crisis Intervention - A Family Supporting Intervention - By Ellen Lauwagie Promotor: Prof. Dr. Eric Broekaert Academic Year: 2005 - 2006 Supervisor: Ph. D Franky D’Oosterlinck

2. Thanks to … • All the children and parents for their collaboration and enthusiasm • Frank Fecser, Ph. D, Chief Executive Officer of the Positive Education Pogram, co-founder of the Life Space Crisis Intervention Institute and co-author « Life Space Crisis Intervention » • Franky D’ Oosterlinck, Ph. D, Chairman ’Efect’, Director of « Observation and Orientation Centre De Nieuwe Vaart » and Senior Trainer LSCI • Kristel Naessens, Family counselor • Laure Lepoudre, Student Educational Sciences • Lot Claes, Child counselor • Mark Freado, Director Re-EDucation Training and Consultation with the Pressley Ridge Institute; Executive Director of the American Re-EDucation Association (AREA); Vice President/CFO, Reclaiming Youth International and Senior Trainer LSCI • Paul Hamers, Director of Methods Development at « Wagenschot » and assistent at the University of Ghent • My family for their neverending support "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

3. Theoretical framework • THE AETIOLOGICAL QUESTION • « Can we attribute antisocial behaviour to child features or to insufficient parenting skills?” • Focus on child features • Focus on parent features • Focus on the parent – child interaction • Focus on the transaction processes "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

4. Focus on child features • temperament • activation and inhibition system • attention span • neurotransmitters • verbal deficits • executive functions • information processing systems "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

5. Focus on child features Social information processing model (Crick, 1994) “Kids will choose good - will try to realise their potential if given the opportunity and shown the way… most behaviour is learned, including aberrant behaviour, and you could simply re-learn it (Mendelson, 1999)”. Family support is only considered as supplementary to the primary treatment : individual child psychotherapy (Fauber et already., 1991). "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

6. Focus on parenting skills • ’60 – ’70: The Family Therapy Movement questions the absolute effectiveness of child therapy • Investigation of the (unicausal) influence of parenting skills on inadequate child behaviors • Development of Family Therapy Services "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

7. Focus on parent child interaction • Child behaviour is no longer reduced to the predisposition of the child OR the parenting skills. • Behaviour problems arise as a result of the reciprocal relation between parent and child (Van Leeuwen et already., 2004). • Patterson (1982) describes rigid negative interactions between children and their parents. (Social interactional model) • “Behavioral problems cause or reinforce rejection of parents, the reinforcements decreases or disappears, parents become less involved which results in inconsistent ad inconsequent parenting behaviour” (De Mey, 2000) "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

8. Focus on the transactional processes The transactional-person-proces model (Belsky, 1984) includes multiple variables. The components constitute the family system and represent the micro level, which correlates with the meso and macro level (Bronfenbrenner) Children behaviour is the result of a complex network of interacting variables (Merlevede, 2004; Van Leeuwen, 2004 ) Subsequently we can focus on different elements in order to create a change. Naturally some components (e.g. situational elements) are out of our control. We focus upon the parent child interaction by amplifying the parenting skills (Cfr. The Transactional model). "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

9. T1 T2 PARENTS T3 Ideas, expectations, behavior, skills, personality features, life events T1 T1 T2 T2 PARTNERS T3 Quality of interaction and relation PARENT/ CHILD T3 CHILD/ PARENT Quality of interation and relation T1 T2 CHILD T3 Ideas, expectations, behavior, skills, personality features, life events "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

10. Since … • Parents function as a rolemodel and mediator, thereby can cause positive therapeutic changes • Parents are the primary agents in the upbringing of youngsters, accordingly constitute the target group of many interventions (literature study indicate a high prevalence of parent trainings (approximitaly 1926)). Each focussing on different target behaviours, such as obesitas, drug abuse, autism, ADHD, sleeping disorders, behavioral and emotional disorders) • Parents of conduct-problem children can produce clinically significant changes in their own and their children’s behavior when they receive appropriate training in the application of behavior change procedures(Sanders, 1996) • Parent trainings demonstrate positive side effects such as: parents feel more competent, experience more positive attitude towards their children, reduction of parental stress, depressive feelings and partner conflicts (Reyno & McGrath, 2006; Sanders, 1996) • Effectiveness of LSCI at a family level • « BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD » - MAHATMA GANDHI - "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

11. Since … • The negative and rigid processes, between parents en kids with behavioral problems, elicit conflicts which in turn reinforce negative parent child processes, therefore creating a permanent conflictuous climate (Voets, 1997). • The gravity and frequency of conflicts reinforce the intensity of behavioral problems (Benzies et al., 2004) • We limit the research to methods of conflict management, as used by family members BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD - MAHATMA GHANDI - "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

12. Design program • Organising committee: • Franky D’Oosterlinck • Lot Claes • Kristel Naessens • Laure Lepoudre • Ellen Lauwagie • Participating institution: Observation and orientation centre « De Nieuwe Vaart ». • Actors: • Parents • Children • Child care workers • Family care workers • Teachers • Parent trainer en co-trainers "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

13. Time table • Initiation phase (2 months) • Specify typical parent child interactions during conflictuous moments • Actors define common goals, concerning methods of conflict management • Implementation phase (2 months) • Parent training: • Basic training (2 days) • Practice (2 months) & supplementary supporting family interventions based upon individualised support needs • Summarisation, repitition (1 day) • Child counseling intensified • Detect individual needs of children in order to provide and adjust child support • Life Space Crisis Intervention • Follow up phase (3 months) • Actors define support needs, thereby developping appealing individualised family interventions "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

14. Design program • Program components • Parent Training (main focus) • Concepts illustration (unconsiousness versus consiousness, conflict cycle, six stages, clinical skills, irrational beliefs, counter agression) • Practice (case study and role playing) • Child counseling • Family counseling • Consultations • Trainer • Guards the process • Provides a secure and challenging learning environment • Observes • Provides feedback • Teaches • Inspires "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

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21. Intervention goals • Reduction of parental stress • Parental stress is marked as the determining factor in the development of antisocial behavior (Maughan, 2005 & Merlevede, 2005) • Each interaction could arouse (parental) stress, thereby setting a conflict cycle in motion (Long, Wood & Fecser, 2003). • Parental stress as a result and source of unappropriate behaviours By training parenting skills, parents feel more competent and secure about handling crisisses, which in turn reduces parental stress. "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

22. Intervention goals • Amelioration of parent child interaction • Through interactions family members develop ideas or peceptions about the parent child interaction (Madon, 2004) • Perceptions enclose expectations about future interactions (Gerris, 1999; Madon, 2004). • As such, perceptions and expectations have the potential to actively shape one’s behavior during an interaction such that it can alter the interaction itself (Madon et al., 2004, p. 460) (Self fulfilling prophecy) • The parent child interaction between parents and children with behavioral disorders are mostly rigid and negative (Fauber et al., 1991; Hollenstein, et al., 2004 ). Moreover, rigid parent child interactions reinforce the intensity and frequency of behavioral problems (Hollenstein et al., 2004; Merlevede et al., 2004; Patterson, 1982). Through family supporting interventions we alter negative interactions into positive parent child interactions, thereby decreasing behavioral problems "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

23. Intervention goals • Reduction of behavioral problems • Developmental theory • Developmental tasks and responsabilities result in constructive skills • Interfered by risk factors (within the environment, the child and family), developmental, acute and situational stress • Children with behavioral and emotional disorders experience more difficulties, lack the skills and appeal for defensive strategies By improving the self regulating behaviour of youngsters, youngster experience more self compentent, which in turn reduces stress By training parents in conflict management, parents feel more secure, experience less stress, thereby decreasing triggers which could arouse acting out behaviour "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

24. Evaluation study: Parental stress "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

25. Evaluation study: Parental stress "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

26. Evaluation study: CBCL "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

27. Evaluation study: CBCL "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

28. Parent child interaction "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

29. Satisfaction Questionnaire • Developped by the organising committee • Investigates the • Clearness • Usefullness • Frequence of use • Percieved change • Supporting needs • For the subscales: • Conflictcycle • Six stages • Listening skills • Speaking skills • Self regulations skills • Knowledge about behavioral problems • Own experiences "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

30. Conclusion • The parental stress (measured by the PSI, Abidin, dutch version) decreased significant. • Test results indicate a more positive child interaction relationship, although no sifnificant results were found. • Parents report a slight reduction (not significant) of the problem behaviour. Surprisingly, parents indicate more agressive behaviour. Due to the testing, parents could become more aware of the problem behaviour, whereas before the testing parents became used to the problem behaviour. • Parents rated the parent training as usefull and clear. They experienced difficulties in the transfer of the knowledge and skills. "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

31. Recommendations Parents • Parents ask for extra support in order to transfer the knowledge and skills • Parents would like to expand the training • Parents would like to be trained in self regulation • Parents would like to extend further contacts with other parents Trainer & co-trainers • Spend less time on the concept illustration, spend more time on practice • Train parents in positive parenting skills (basic training) • Train parents in self regulation • Devote more time on the six stages, in particular the Drain Off stage • Create a warm, reliable environment (role play) • Expand the contact with other parents (parent group) "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

32. Recommendations for future projects • Research for the surplus value of added interventions • Research for interactions effects between variables • Evaluate the conflict management techniques • Research about the family environment • Expanding research by including kids, family care and child care workers in the evaluation process • Research about the generalization : residential care, different target groups • Follow up study • Research about the needs of further support "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"

33. If you have any questions, please do ask! "LSCI - A Family Supporting Intervention"