MIchigan: Educating Teen Parents

WJRT in Flint, Michigan reports on a spike in SBS cases, and the efforts of a local pediatrician and hospital staff to reach out to teen fathers at local high schools and educate them not only about what not to do - but what to do - when caring for an infant. Link (video below)

FLINT (WJRT) -- (02/26/11) -- Doctors at Hurley Medical Center are reporting that Shaken Baby Syndrome is a rising problem in Flint.

After two shaken baby cases in Flint last month, a new awareness effort is underway in Mid-Michigan involving doctors reaching out to teens to put an end to the crime.

DeAngelo Henderson and Corey Yeager are the two young fathers who critically shook their month-old babies in January. Henderson's daughter died after the violent shaking. Yeager's daughter was last reported in critical condition. Both men could face more than 15 years in prison.

Preventing these cases is Dr. Faisal Mawri's passion. Mawri, a pediatrician, says he's seen one too many shaken baby cases at Hurley Medical Center. "Absolutely I care about it because shaken baby syndrome is 100 percent preventable," Mawri said.

Now, Mawri and his team are holding seminars at five Genesee County high schools to prevent the crime. The effort is part of a fellowship project funded by a $12,000 grant.

"We came in here today, handed them the baby and showed them what they shouldn't do with the baby," said Pediatric Emergency Physician Rachel Stanley. Following the seminar, the students were surveyed on the facts, tested two months later for retention, and then rewarded.

"I'm going to find all these kids again. I'm going to give them that survey and once they complete that survey, I'm going to give them a $10 gift card," said Hurley Medical Center pediatric researcher Beth Grundman. "Bringing in these babies brings a sense of reality to the whole educational department."

Legacy: Positive Parenting

Science Daily reports on a new parenting study, with an important insight: effective parenting education can become a legacy for generations to come....

A new study that looks at data on three generations of Oregon families shows that "positive parenting" – including factors such as warmth, monitoring children's activities, involvement, and consistency of discipline – not only has positive impacts on adolescents, but on the way they parent their own children.

The study will be published in the September issue of the journal Developmental Psychology in a special issue devoted to findings of some of the few long-term studies of intergenerational family processes.

Kerr said there is often an assumption that people learn parenting methods from their own parents. In fact, he said most research shows that a direct link between what a person experiences as a child and what she or he does as a parent is fairly weak.

"Instead, what we find is that 'negative' parenting such as hostility and lack of follow-through leads to 'negative' parenting in the next generation not through observation, but by allowing problem behavior to take hold in adolescence," Kerr said. "For instance, if you try to control your child with anger and threats, he learns to deal in this way with peers, teachers, and eventually his own children.

If you do not track where your child is, others will take over your job of teaching him about the world.

"We knew that these negative pathways can be very strong," Kerr said. "What surprised us is how strong positive parenting pathways are as well. Positive parenting is not just the absence of negative influences, but involves taking an active role in a child's life."
* * *
The researchers found that children who had parents who monitored their behavior, were consistent with rules and were warm and affectionate were more likely to have close relationships with their peers, be more engaged in school, and have better self-esteem.

"So part of what good parenting does is not only protect you against negative behaviors but instill positive connections with others during adolescence that then impact how you relate with your partner and your own child as an adult," Kerr said

"This research shows that when we think about the value of prevention, we should consider an even wider lens than is typical," he added. "We see now that changes in parenting can have an effect not just on children but even on grandchildren."

Link

Good News: Parenting Program Reduces Abuse

A Medscape article (requires free registration) reports encouraging results from a trial of the "Positive Parenting Program" in South Carolina:

January 29, 2009 — When parents have broad access to a widely promoted positive parenting program, key measures of child maltreatment drop significantly, a population-based study shows.

The study is published online January 22 in Prevention Science (article).

The US Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) System Population Trial found lower rates of confirmed child abuse, foster-care placements, and hospital visits for child injuries in 9 counties in South Carolina where a multilevel parenting support system — the Triple P — was implemented compared with 9 counties providing usual services.

The evidence-based parenting program, developed by study coinvestigator Matthew R. Sanders, PhD, from the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia, is designed to provide parents with skills to deal with newborns to 12-year-old children. It offers different levels of parental support to match a family's needs. The current study focused on child-maltreatment outcomes in children younger than 8 years.

Researchers estimate that implementation of the Triple P system would translate into 688 fewer cases of child maltreatment, 240 fewer out-of-home placements, and 60 fewer children with injuries requiring hospitalization or emergency-department treatment for every 100,000 children younger than 8 years on an annual basis.

"This is the first large-scale study to show that by providing all families, not just families in crisis, with access to parenting information and support, we can reduce the rates of child maltreatment in whole communities," lead author Ronald J. Prinz, PhD, from the University of South Carolina, in Columbia, said in a statement.

Resources:

Triple P - http://www.triplep.net/
Triple P America - http://www.triplep-america.com/
South Carolina Triple P - http://tpinfo.sc.edu/
SAMHSA National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices http://www.nrepp.samhsa.gov/programfulldetails.asp?PROGRAM_ID=218
CWLA (positive parenting tips/resources) - http://www.cwla.org/positiveparenting/

This summary of Australian research on parenting education prompts three thoughts:

- why did they create a parenting program (the "first"), rather than adapt and evaluate one that has been shown effective, such as the home-visiting program developed by David Olds?;
- as research seems to show that birth is the "teachable moment", why did they wait until 8 months to implement it?; and
- doesn't it seem that a reduction in harsh or abusive parenting behavior is a worthwhile result?

Parenting Program Does Not Prevent Toddler Behavior Problems, Study Shows
ScienceDaily (Feb. 3, 2008) — A study of the first universal parenting programme, designed to prevent early child behaviour problems, shows that it has little impact on toddler behaviour.
Behaviour problems affect up to 20 per cent of children and have major personal, societal and economic ramifications. Left untreated, up to half of behaviour problems in preschool children develop into later mental health problems.
Prevention targeted to high-risk families can be effective, but has limited reach and may stigmatise. Universal programmes offered to all families could address these concerns, but their effectiveness is uncertain.
The study, conducted at the Centre for Community Child Health (CCCH) in Melbourne, Australia, is published by the British Medical Journal.
Researchers from the CCCH and the Parenting Research Centre, with input from maternal and child health nurses, designed a programme suitable for all parents to be delivered by trained health professionals in primary care. The programme aimed to prevent child behaviour problems, such as defiance and aggression, and improve parenting and maternal mental health.
Over 700 mothers of 8 month-old infants participated in the study and were randomised to either the programme (three sessions at age 8-15 months) or usual care from their local Maternal and Child Health centre. Mothers were surveyed throughout the study and their mental health was assessed when their children reached 18 and 24 months.
At 18 months, child behaviour and parenting scores were similar between the two groups. By age 24 months, parents on the programme were less likely to report harsh or abusive parenting and unreasonable expectations of child development, but there was no improvement in maternal distress or toddler behaviour.
This was the first trial to evaluate a universal parenting programme involving families from all social backgrounds, say the authors.
They conclude that the outcomes are insufficient to support widespread introduction of this programme to prevent toddler behaviour problems.

BMJ-British Medical Journal (2008, February 3). Parenting Program Does Not Prevent Toddler Behavior Problems, Study Shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 1, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/ /releases/2008/01/080131214534.htm