The Fit Fathers, Successful Families, Inside & Out (FFSFIO)program

Study Purpose

• Highlight the relationship of a mindful parenting curriculum to parental resilience

outcomes, as well as to core parenting skills and competencies outlined in the National

Extension Parenting Education Model (NEPEM, 1994).

• Reveal where opportunities lie for developing either follow up programs for populations

that are currently served and/or programs for more generalized populations.

Mindful Parenting Curriculum Components that Support Parental Resilience

Jenn Crawford, Gitanjali Shrestha, Pilar Placone, & Laura G. Hill

Methods

Population

Discussion and Implications

Mindful Parent Happy Child (MPHC) Mindful Parenting Model, NPEN Model, & Core FFSFIO Modules

• Intervention combines parent education with yoga and mindfulness instruction and

currently serves two primary sets of populations--incarcerated fathers and parents who are

in treatment for drugs and alcohol.

FFSFIO Curriculum Across all Programs: Each series focuses on one- two hour parent education modules matched with 55-minute

guided yoga practice sessions. Six core parenting education modules incorporate a research-

based parenting curriculum for incarcerated fathers (Fit2bFathers- F2BF, Maiorano 2000) and

mindful parenting, matched hour-to hour with guided yoga instruction. The mindful

parenting components also incorporate a three-phased parenting education model (Mindful

Parent Happy Child (MPHC), Placone 2011) designed for general audiences in every

session.

. . . This relatively low-intensity level intervention shows promise for making significant

and lasting changes within individuals’ “intra-personal” domains to creating lasting

“interpersonal” results.

. . . . Stronger and more consistent results in stress management and self worth outcomes

than in parenting information suggest need for more targeted parenting education and/or

for longer dosages.

. . . Tailoring program delivery to multiple populations, not limited to “high risk”

populations, is worth further exploration. Follow up programs and/or programs for more

generalized populations can incorporate these findings.

Outcome data suggests that . .

.

OutcomesOutcome 1: Increased skills

for managing stress

Outcome 2: Increased Self Worth

Outcome 3: Increased Self Compassion

Outcome 4: Increased parenting knowledge

Outcome 5: Increased Value of parental role (non statistically significant change)

Outcome 6: Increased Confidence in Parental Role (N/a post only

Outcome 7: Improved sense of connection to family members.

Results*

Placone, P. (2011). Mindful Parent Happy Child: A guide to raising joyful and resilient children. Alaya press. Palo Alto, CA.

Placone, P. and Crawford, J.K. “Mindful parenting update for parenting and family educators.” February 12, 2013 Webinar -- (available at http://whatcom.wsu.edu/fch/archivedwebinars.html)

Smith, C. A., Cudaback, D., Goddard, H. W., & Myers-Walls, J. (1994). National Extension Parent Education Model (1994). Manhattan, Kansas: Kansas Cooperative Extension service (available at http://www.k-state.edu/wwparent/nepem/nepem.pdf))

National Council on Family Relations 75th

Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX Well-being of Children and Youth in Families and Communities, November 6-9, 2013. Please contact Jenn Crawford for more information: crawfordj@wsu.edu

Seven outcome measures for parental resilience include sixteen specific indicators,

developed in consultation with WA State Department of Early Learning consultants:

- Question item-specific indicators from two the Whole Person Survey short

form based on yoga therapy (LePage, 2001) and the Fit 2B Fathers (F2bF)

program scale (Maiorano, 2001) created by the Fit2BF program developer;

-The seven outcomes include two validated scales -- the Self Compassion

Scale (SCS) (Neff, 2003) and the Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS) (Simons &

Gaher, 2005).

T-test comparisons between the population subsets -- incarcerated fathers and parents

who are in treatment for drugs and alcohol – to reveal more prominent outcomes and

whether and where there are significant differences in outcomes among different

populations.

Specific National Extension Parenting Education Model (NEPEM) Categories priority practice & examples from Mindful Parent Happy Child (MPHC) Model

(NEPEM) CategoriesPriority Practice Examples MPHC Components CORE FFSFIO Modules

Care for Self

Understand

Guide

Nurture

Motivate

Advocate

Manage personal stress.

Manage family resources.

Offer support to other parents.

Ask for and accept support from others when needed.

Recognize one’s own personal and parenting strengths.

Have a sense of purpose in setting child-rearing goals.

Cooperate with ones child-rearing partners.

Observe and understand one’s children and their

development.

Recognize how children influence and respond to what

happens around them.

Model appropriate desired behavior

Establish and maintain reasonable limits.

Provide children with developmentally appropriate

opportunities to learn responsibility.

Convey fundamental values underlying basic human

decency.

Teach problem solving skills.

Monitor children’s activities and facilitate their contact with

peers and adults.

Express affection and compassion.

Foster children’s self-respect and hope.

Listen and attend to children’s feelings and ideas.

Teach kindness.

Provide for the nutrition, shelter, clothing, health, and safety

needs of one’s children.

Celebrate life with one’s children.

Help children feel connected to family history and cultural

heritage.

Teach children about themselves, others, and the world

around them

Stimulate curiosity, imagination, and the search for

knowledge

Create beneficial learning conditions

Help children process and manage information.

Find, use, and create community resources when needed to

benefit one’s children and the community of children.

Stimulate social change to create supportive environments

for children and families.

Build relationships with family, neighborhood, and

community groups.

all 3 MPHC Components

Self Intervention & Deliberate Action

Deliberate Action

Deliberate Action

Mindful Awareness

all 3 MPHC Components

all 3 MPHC Components

Deliberate Action

“”

all 3 MPHC Components

Back to Basics (B2B)

Setting Limits (SL)

Child Development (CD)

Mindful Parenting (MP)

Communicating (with children)

Living Proactively (LP)

Mindful Parenting (MP)

Communicating (with children)

Setting Limits (SL)

Child Development (CD) Mindful Parenting (MP)

Communicating (with children)

Living Proactively (LP)

Back to Basics (B2B)

Setting Limits (SL)

Child Development (CD)

Mindful Parenting (MP)

Communicating (with children)

Setting Limits (SL)

Child Development (CD)

Mindful Parenting (MP)

Communicating (with children)

Back to Basics (B2B)

Setting Limits (SL)

Child Development (CD)

Mindful Parenting (MP)

The total number of respondents in the incarcerated fathers group is 105. We have

pre/post data for 61 respondents (58.1%).

The total number of respondents in the drug & alcohol rehab parents group is 154.

We have pre/post data for 87 respondents (56.5%).

Hypotheses:

1) There is no difference in outcomes related to parental resilience between

population groups.

2) There is change as a result of participating in the program.

Design and Measures

LePage, Joseph, Whole Person Survey, via e-mail correspondence http://iytyogatherapy.com/.

Neff, K.D. (2003). The development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion Self and Identity, 1529-8876, 2(3), 223 – 250. 10.1080/15298860390209035

Maiorano, J.J., Fit 2-b FATHERS. Retrieved from http://fcs.osu.edu/f2bf/index.php

Simons, J.S., and Gaher, R. M, (2005). The distress tolerance scale: development and validation of a self-report measure. Motivation and Emotion, 29(2), 83-102. doi: 10.1007/s11031-005-7955-3

Parent Education content and structure:

6 Core Modules (Back to Basics (B2B), Setting Limits (SL), Child Development (CD),

Mindful Parenting (MP), Communicating (with children), Living Proactively (LP))

Electives (2-4 depending on location)

55-minute instructor guided sessions

Centering, Community agreement

Experiential and didactic learning

Journal assignments between classes;

+ Guided Yoga Practice structure:

55 minute guided practice classes

Reflection /Yoga philosophy

Mindful Movement Instruction

Breath instruction

Deep relaxation (5 minutes)

Both hypothesis were supported.

1. There is no significant difference in outcomes between jailed parents and center parents. Both

groups show benefit from participation in program.

2. Out of 16 DEL outcome measures, there was statistically significant pre/post change for 7 outcomes

in incarcerated parents, and there was statistically significant pre/post change for 10 outcomes in

rehab parents.

Rehab parents pre/post

* Only statistically-significant indicators shown

here in color.. Bonferroni corrected p value =

.003

Introduction and Background

Incarcerated Fathers pre/post Rehab parents pre/post Rehab parents pre/postRehab parents pre/post

Incarcerated Fathers pre/post Rehab parents pre/post

Incarcerated Fathers pre/post Rehab parents pre/post Incarcerated Fathers pre/post Rehab parents pre/post

Incarcerated Fathers pre/post Rehab parents pre/post

Incarcerated Fathers pre/postIncarcerated Fathers pre/post Rehab parents pre/post

Rehab parents pre/post

Rehab parents pre/post