Parenting Through Divorce: Low-Cost, Innovative Training

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Divorce is a serious public health problem. Over 50% of marriages end in divorce, generating family stressors that contribute to maladaptive child adjustment. Despite parents' key role in protecting children, many are ill prepared for the task. The evidence is clear that providing parents with quality divorce parent education can mitigate the negative effects on children. Unfortunately, available programs are insufficient: most do not target the key variables known to buffer effects on children, and most are not skill-based. Moreover, nearly 60% of programs take place in one session, and many are inaccessible to fathers. There is a need for accessible, durable, theoretically sound, skill-based training for parents. The central aim of this project is to create an innovative program uniquely tailored to meet the needs of mothers and fathers during the divorce transition. If the aims were are achieved, the program will provide a resilience resource to bolster parental factors known to moderate the effects of risk factors on child outcomes, thus filling a significant public health need. The complete Phase I and II program will be an accessible, menu-driven, interactive eDVD curriculum containing media-led lessons with engaging, realistic vignettes; skill-building exercises and information for both self-instructional and group delivery. The program will also include a website containing the video training, a managed web community for parents to share experiences, and links to resources on the World Wide Web. During Phase I, we will obtain feedback from divorcing parents, the professionals who work with them, and our program consultants to develop the first program module, and set up a web community room. We will evaluate feasibility of the program by conducting pilot interventions with separate groups of mothers and fathers, and establishing the acceptability of the program among relevant professionals.