The purpose of this study was to examine parental experiences of participation in the group dialogue, based on the Systematic Training for Effective Parenting(STEP) program. STEP is a widely recognized parent education program, and it is modified, in...
The purpose of this study was to examine parental experiences of participation in the group dialogue, based on the Systematic Training for Effective Parenting(STEP) program. STEP is a widely recognized parent education program, and it is modified, in this study, by strengthening the component of reflective thinking and active praticipation on the parts of parents, in response to the call for changes in parent education.. The researcher in this study who has been a long time parent educator of STEP program, ran the program for 8 times, with 11 participants. The followings are three research questions with their respective findings.
1. What are the patterns of participation among parents in the modified STEP program?
In this study, the STEP program was modified. The component of reflective thinking was strengthened by asking participants to write reflective journal after each meeting, in order to encourage them to look back, analyze and self-evaluate their own personal experiences as adult learners, and eventually produce generalizable results. And the parents were urged to take part in the group dialogue as active participants and owner of their experiences.
In the beginning phase of the program, some of the parents became interested but felt uncomfortable with this new type of meeting, and some others complained that it wasn't fresh enough to meet their expectations. Thus, the group overall showed hesitation in participation. When this phase was over, the parents tried to contribute to the meeting, even sporadic and impromptu. This middle phase was characterized by all different patterns of participation, ranging from passively listening to the group talk to actively suggesting the themes for discussion in the meeting. They made use of their knowledge and gave opinions during the group discussion, but they were still largely reliant on the researcher/parent educator as the leader of the group dialogue. Toward the end of this program, however, they gradually got accustomed to the new type of parental participation, and immersed themselves in the discussion about the selected themes. They made arguments and counter-arguments, and the conversation became increasingly dynamic so that they could reach a group consensus in that course.
2. What difficulties do parents express during their participation in the STEP program?
Parents expressed difficulties in balancing conflicts between parents themselves who focuses only on meeting children's physical and physiolosical needs, thinking that they were just kids, and children who wants to be regarded as beings with equal rights. They also found it difficult to balance between their own needs as independent social beings and as parents to their children who needs to be taken care of. Another difficulty they faced was that it's not easy to accommodate their children's different needs when there are more than two children,, and they weren't good at their own emotional regulation in that situation.
3. What does the experience of participation in the program mean for parents?
First, the parents were comforted and empathic toward one another while they shared their difficulties in parenting through the new way of parenting program, and they shared their knowledge and information as well, which made it possible for them to build mutually supportive relationships.
Second, the participation experience itself served as a bridge between what they read about parenting and what they do in real life as parents. They could overcome the sense of frustration that are stemmed from the gap between the reality and the perfectly ideal prescriptions from parenting books, by sharing their experiences and finding appropriate way of filling the gap. Thus, they reflected on their own parenting and tried to examine their own attitude by distancing themselves.
Finally, the parents could resolve their parenting problems as an active and independent learner by way of participating in the group dialogue.