Nicolette Roman* & Adele Grosse INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND The effect of the Proud2BME parenting intervention to improve parenting and personal responsibility of parents: A pilot study Nicolette Roman* & Adele Grosse *Child and Family Studies, Faculty of Community and Health Sciences, University of the Western Cape PROUD2b ME® Contact details: nroman@uwc.ac.za; adele@proud2b.org RESULTS The correlations show a significant negative relationship between poor monitoring and supervision parenting practices and behavioural and emotional control in being responsible (r = -.364; p = .011) at Time 1. At Time 2, significant negative relationships were found between behavioural and emotional control (responsible) and poor monitoring and supervision parenting practices (r = -.408; p = .025) as well as inconsistent discipline (r = -.392; p = .032). This was similar for personal accountability and poor monitoring and supervision parenting practices too. The results also show that there were significant differences between the pre (Time 1) and post (Time 2) findings. In terms of personal responsibility significant differences were found for behavioural and emotional control, and personal accountability. For parenting approaches, parental involvement and positive parenting significantly improved at Time 2. AIM OF THE STUDY The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a community-based intervention to improve parenting approaches and personal responsibility in a group of parents. INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND Based on explorative research, parenting has been shown to affect the behavioural outcomes and adult adjustment of children. For example, an authoritarian parenting style promotes parenting which is harsh, inhibitive, punitive, cold and detached. The outcomes for the child is antisocial behaviour, including aggression, theft and other delinquent activities. Furthermore there is a delay or stagnation of the child’s development. The child does not learn about relationship reciprocity or “give and take” and the child is unhappy, aimless, does not get along with others, low in achievement motivation and social assertion. When parenting is problematic, the outcomes for the child is often dire for health and well-being of the child. Trying to understand parenting in itself is complex because there are so many variations with diverse outcomes. Over time, interventions have been developed to assist parents to provide parents with knowledge and skills to raise their children more positively towards being well adjusted. Internationally interventions have been structured to improve parenting approaches in order to improve the parent-child relationship and the well-being of the child. Furthermore, the intention to improve parenting means parents become more involved and responsible in their parenting and caring for their children. The outcomes of these interventions are subsequently very positive for the health and well-being of their children. In South Africa, parenting intervention research is an emerging phenomenon. The approach is to focus on positive parenting approaches for ultimately reducing violence and strengthening families to improve relationships and the health and well-being of children. The focus has also mainly been on parents in low socio-economic environments. Table 1: TIME 1 PRE VARIABLES M SD 1 Behavioral and Emotional Control 2.36 .72 2 Cognitive Control 3.36 .53 3 Personal Accountability 3.53 .40 4 Parental Involvement 3.33 .99 5 Positive Parenting 3.80 1.08 6 Poor Monitoring/Supervision 2.19 .83 7 Inconsistent Discipline 2.72 .90 8 Corporal Punishment 2.18 .81 DISCUSSION The results of this study highlights the potential of the PROUD2BME parenting intervention to make a difference in the parenting approaches used in raising children. These changes are similar to other changes in intervention research globally and adds to the limited research base in South Africa. In addition, to measuring the parenting approaches used, this study also set out to determine the prevalence of being responsible in relation to the parenting approaches used. Personal responsibility is being accountable to oneself and the needs and well-being of others (Ruyter, 2002). This is especially important for parenting as children are vulnerable and dependent on parents for their existence. If parenting inventions are able to encourage responsible parenting, the long term effects could be a reduction in child neglect and abuse, more care and protection and perhaps increased mindfulness parenting. Table 2: TIME 2 POST VARIABLES M SD 1 Behavioral and Emotional Control 2.84 .62 2 Cognitive Control 3.41 .63 3 Personal Accountability 3.70 .34 4 Parental Involvement 3.95 .69 5 Positive Parenting 4.23 .64 6 Poor Monitoring/Supervision 2.24 .71 7 Inconsistent Discipline 2.62 .93 8 Corporal Punishment 2.09 .82 METHODS This study used a quantitative methodological approach using a pre (Time 1) and post (Time 2) design with a single group of parents. Participants were recruited via community-based organisations as well as government. The programme was presented with different groups of parents in different areas in the Western Cape. For completed data in Time 1, the total sample 91 parents. In Time 2, the retention rate was 70%. The final sample had a MeanAge of 34.34 years (SD = 8.85) with the majority being Male (59%), Coloured (65%), English speaking (54.3%) and single (53%). Questionnaires were used to collect the data. These questionnaires consisted of a Demographic Section, the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (42 items) and the Personal Responsibility Scale (15 items). Data was collected before and after the implementation of the programme. The parenting programme is an applicable relational-based intervention programme focusing on rebuilding individuals and communities, ensuring inclusion of all individuals in a community. The programme is implemented over 5 sessions and contains the following pillars for discussion: (1) Role and responsibility; (2) Self-confidence and self-esteem; (3) Effective communication; (4) Norms, values and rules; (5) Assemble ‘support group’ with ‘’support group leader’. The programme is aimed at sustainable and lasting effects based on supportive community teams to strengthen families. The data was analysed by means of paired t-tests and correlation to assess relationships between the variables. CONCLUSION This study sought to conduct a pilot study of the potential effects of an intervention for parenting. The outcomes are promising with significant differences post intervention for parenting practices and being responsible. Table 3: COMPARATIVE TIME 1 AND 2 RECOMMENDATIONS This pilot study shows promising results and should be extended to implementing an RCT study. The sense of being responsible is an aspect which could be considered in parent training so that parents feel empowered to parent their children rather than the state. There may also be the possibility of replicability and scalability if a broadened evaluation is applied. The approach of the PROUD2BME programme is to embed within communities. This holds promise for sustainability and would therefore provide an opportunity for an evaluation in terms of being culturally sensitive and culturally integrated into communities. PAIRS VARIABLES t p 1 Behavioral and Emotional Control -4.93 .000* 2 Cognitive Control -.10 .921 3 Personal Accountability -2.09 .042* 4 Parental Involvement -2.70 .013* 5 Positive Parenting -2.21 .034* 6 Poor Monitoring/Supervision .40 .689 7 Inconsistent Discipline 1.09 .286 8 Corporal Punishment .52 .610