Abstract
The rate of youth suffering from untreated emotional and behavioral problems has risen in recent years. Various barriers to treatment utilization of youth and their families have been identified in the literature, including logistical factors (i.e. transportation, lack of child care), financial barriers, as well as system barriers (i.e. limited knowledge of mental health difficulties among parents of young children). Parents/caregivers are often the primary gatekeepers to treatment for children suffering from mental health problems. Additionally, psychoeducational programs have increasingly gained support as an effective evidence-based practice that may bolster treatment utilization among youth. A psychoeducational program for parents of school-aged children was developed to teach empirically-based strategies for managing common childhood problems and to help parents understand when and how to refer to professional services. A mixed methods study was conducted as a means to gain teacher impressions of the program’s effectiveness in disseminating evidence-based home strategies that can be used by parents to manage common childhood problems. Qualitative data analysis procedures based on grounded theory were undertaken to code collected data from narrative interviews. Major themes that emerged included importance of parent psychoeducation, need for social skills training, need for effective discipline techniques, preference for modular training, and scheduling with consideration for parental time constraints. Quantitative data analysis revealed that usefulness of behavioral interventions received the highest average rating between very much and extremely (M = 4.67, SD = 0.52) from participants, while knowledge increase post program overview had a medium level impact between somewhat and very much (M = 3.83, SD = 0.98). Limitations, strengths, and recommendations for future directions are discussed.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Dissertations (PsyD) -- Psychology; Students -- Psychology; Teachers -- Training of; Interaction analysis in education
Date of Award
2017
School Affiliation
Graduate School of Education and Psychology
Department/Program
Psychology
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctorate
Faculty Advisor
Ho, Judy;
Recommended Citation
Rajo, Erika, "A mixed methods study examining parent impressions of a psychoeducational program on common issues during childhood" (2017). Theses and Dissertations. 817.
https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd/817