Evaluation of a Community Adolescent Parenting Program

Abstract

Adolescent parenting presents multiple factors that affect the health of both mother and child, such as early school drop-out, fewer employment opportunities, and depression. Programs offered to help adolescent parents must consider these factors when offering support to adolescent mothers. Home-visiting programs by public health nurses to adolescent mothers have been successful in helping adolescents with decision-making and lifestyle changes (Schaffer & Mbibi, 2014). The nurse family partnership, a long-term home-visiting program, offers adolescent mothers support, mentorship, and positive parenting practices (Miller, 2015). Stable relationships with social support, specifically the father of the child, as well as participation in home visitation services are associated with lower evidence of maternal depression (Easterbrooks, Kotake, Raskin, & Bumgarner, 2016). Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) is considered a best practice parenting program with an extensive evidence base. The program has demonstrated consistent positive effects on parenting practices, child-behavior problems, and parents’ adjustment to parenthood across many cultures (Prinz, Sanders, Shapiro, Whitaker, & Lutzker, 2009). The purpose of this senior honors project was to compare Young Families Connect (YFC), an adolescent parenting program in rural eastern North Carolina to best practice guidelines for these programs. The present study involves four steps. First, an audit tool was developed to compare best practice parenting program with YFC, the local parenting program. Second, key informants in public health and parenting programs were interviewed about YFC. Third, participant-observation was conducted at a YFC parenting meeting. Lastly, analysis will represent data from interviews, field notes, and observations, and by comparing YFC to an evidence-based national parenting program.