Evaluation of Leicester city county 'Parenting and Cognitive Behaviour Project'
Youth Justice Board and Leicester Centre for Fun and Families
This project was funded as part of a national programme designed to evaluate
services intended to strengthen parenting skills with the objective of
preventing youth offending.
The Centre for Fun and Families (CFF), based in Leicester, is a national voluntary organisation that helps parents who are having behaviour difficulties with their young people.
As part of a National Parenting Programme, the Youth Justice Board agreed to fund a 3-year project, the Leicester City and County Parenting and Cognitive Behaviour Project - a partnership between the Leicester City and County Social Services Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) and the CFF.
The collaborative project aimed to offer families of young people who are offending, or are at risk of offending, the opportunity to receive assistance to reduce the risk of re-offending. This assistance was offered through two related group programmes designed and presented by the CFF: Living with Teenagers (LWT) and Avoiding Conflict with Adults (ACWA).
This project undertaken by CCFR and Open University researchers aimed to provide an evaluation of the long-term effectiveness of the two complementary training programmes and to contribute to the research and record of evidence-based practice in support of the Youth Justice Board Parenting Programme (YJBPP).
Interviews were conducted with parents and young people involved in the two programmes. Evaluative questionnaires were also completed.
It was found that the LWT programme had several positive outcomes at the end of the programme:
- Parents learned practical parenting skills such as improved communication, negotiation and anger management skills.
- There were distinct changes in the young people's behaviour, including a reduction in behaviours that were considered 'difficult', such as 'gets angry when doesn't get own way' and 'will not do what you ask'.
- Parents found difficult behaviour easier to manage at the end of the programme.
The ACWA programme also had several positive outcomes and the majority of young people attending:
- rated the programme as excellent
- valued the support of their peers
- learned to stop, think and listen
- learned to co-operate
- valued being able to talk about their problems
- found that the facilitators were helpful and kind
- some found their relationships with their parents had improved
At a national level its preliminary findings have
contributed to the debate on parenting programmes; at a local level the findings
will help to establish the effectiveness of the Leicester City and County
Parenting and Cognitive Behaviour Programme.
Chapman, R., Peel, M. and Ward, H. (2002) Leicester City and County Parenting and Cognitive Behaviour Project: Evaluation Report for the Centre for Fun and Families (August 1999-March 2002). Loughborough: CCFR.
Professor Harriet Ward (CCFR) and Mark Peel (Open University)
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