Taking parenting programmes to the people

A parenting forum at The University of Auckland’s Faculty of Education will bring together international views on the value of parenting programmes, and how to make them widely available.

The forum on Wednesday 24 February is hosted by the Triple P Positive Parenting Research Group, and is being held for all professionals involved in the health, education and wellbeing of children and families.

"Although parenting programmes have been available for years, very few parents participate in programmes that work. It is essential that different methods of engaging families are identified so that parenthood preparation becomes a normal, healthy, positive and completely destigmatised experience,” says Professor Matt Sanders, Director of the Triple P Research Group.

Four leading international researchers will discuss the challenges related to making evidence-based parenting programmes widely available to all parents.

Professor Ron Prinz from the University of South Carolina is known for his success in developing strategies for population and community-wide prevention of child maltreatment and promotion of child wellbeing in the United States.

Dr Rachel Calam from the University of Manchester has research interests in parenting and asthma, and the use of new media and technologies to deliver parenting interventions.

Dr Carol Metzler from the Oregon Research Institute conducts research on the efficacy of family and school-level interventions for reducing or preventing child behaviour problems. Dr Metzler is also engaged in efforts to integrate science, practice and policy into evidence-based parenting programmes.

Professor Matt Sanders is the fourth expert to speak at the event. He is an Adjunct Professor in The Faculty of Education, and a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Queensland. His research area is the prevention of child behavioural and emotional problems and promotion of optimal child development. His focus is on increasing the population reach of parenting interventions, and finding new and effective ways to deliver the programmes to suit special or high-risk populations of parents.

Notes to editors:
The speakers are available for media interviews on request. Media are also welcome to attend the forum, which runs from 5-7pm on Wednesday 24 February at the Faculty of Education’s Epsom Campus, 74 Epsom Avenue, J1 McGhie Lecture Theatre.