4294.0: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 - Board 3

Abstract #14847

Enhanced parenting through social exposure training: Set for Life - A program for transitionally housed women

Shirley E. Van Zandt, MS, MPH, CRNP and Marion Isaacs D'Lugoff, RN, MA. School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, 525 N. Wolfe Street, #443, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410-614-5297, svanzand@son.jhmi.edu

Set For Life, a program designed to enhance parenting skills through social exposure training, was presented to transitionally housed mothers by students and faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in Baltimore, Maryland. The program included four two-hour classroom experiences alternating with four field trips to museums, libraries and art galleries. It focused on increasing the ability of at-risk mothers to promote intellectually and culturally stimulating home environments for their young children. The field trips introduced mothers to cultural opportunities that they were not likely to have been exposed to, thereby building their confidence in accessing these experiences for themselves and their children.

The project was aimed at the expressed and demonstrated insecurities in parenting and utilization of cultural opportunities by mothers in transitional housing. Numerous studies have shown the quality of the home environment to be one of the most powerful predictors of developmental outcomes for children. Therefore the goal of the program was to improve the quality of the parent-child relationship in the home environment by increasing social interactions and improving parenting skills. By providing social exposure and parenting training, the quality of the parent-child interactions in the home were expected to increase. These were measured by a pre and post program administration of the HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment) Inventory Assessment Tool.

Five sessions of the program were presented at transitional housing facilities in the Baltimore area using faculty and community health nursing students as instructors, facilitators and evaluators

Learning Objectives: Describe an innovative parenting education program with a vulnerable population Describe outcomes of the parenting education program discussed and offer ideas for program changes and further outcomes data collecton Discuss impact of poverty on parenting

Keywords: Community Health Programs, Vulnerable Populations

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA