Parent Education After Separation: Results from a Multi-Site Study on Best Practices

Abstract

Although parent education after separation in Canada is relatively new, most provinces and territories now have some type of program that provides separating parents with information on their children's needs, co-parenting options, and strategies for improving communication. A 1999-2000 survey of parents in 10 such program sites throughout Canada: (a) demonstrates a high level of parent satisfaction with the programs, (b) chronicles benefits related to reduced conflict and improved child well-being 3 to 4 months following program attendance, and (c) identifies several implications for best practices. Results of this study suggest that parent education is but one program within a network of services needed to support both parents and children after separation.

How Effective Are Court‐affiliated Divorcing Parents Education Programs? A Meta‐analytic Study

“…Many of the articles from these searches were excluded due to the inclusion criteria listed earlier. On two occasions, we found two separate articles reporting on the same sample with additional data (Bacon & McKenzie, 2004, and McKenzie & Bacon, 2002; Kramer & Kowal, 1998, and Kramer & Washo, 1993); information from two reports of the same sample was combined into one study. These search efforts yielded a total of 26 codable reports.…”

Intimate Partner Violence, Parental Divorce, and Child Custody: Directions for Intervention and Future Research*

“…When safety is prioritized, abused women can benefit from the parenting guidance offered by these programs. Indeed, McKenzie and Bacon (2002) found that parents with IPV did not differ from other parents in experiencing the program content as helpful, although some indicated the need for more IPV‐related information and the need to qualify statements about the benefits of cooperative coparenting and joint custody. Although some have reported no association between divorce education programs and subsequent rates of IPV (Kramer, Arbuthnot, Gordon, Rousis, & Hoza, 1998), research is needed that differentiates between high and low levels of risk and that considers ongoing nonphysical types of abuse (e.g., controlling behaviors, harassment).…”

Understanding postdivorce coparenting families: Integrative literature review

“…The methods and findings from each study are summarized in Table S1. Eight articles reported single studies (Ahrons & Miller, 1993; Cookston, Braver, Griffin, DeLuse, & Miles, 2006; Dozier, Sollie, Stack, & Smith, 1993; Fishel & Samsa, 1993; Madden‐Derdich & Leonard, 2002; Madden‐Derdich, Leonard, & Christopher, 1999; McKenzie & Bacon, 2002; Shrier, Simring, Shapiro, Greif, & Lindenthal, 1991), and the other 11 papers were based on three larger studies (Baum, 2003; 2004; Baum & Shnit, 2003; Bonach, 2005; Bonach & Sales, 2002; Bonach, Sales, & Koeske, 2005; Emery, Laumann‐Billings, Waldron, Sbarra, & Dillon, 2001; Maccoby, Buchanan, Mnookin, & Dornbusch, 1993; Maccoby, Depner, & Mnookin, 1990; Sbarra & Emery, 2005; 2008). Each of these latter papers focused on different aspects of the findings from the larger study.…”

“…Ahrons and Miller (1993) had a 5‐year timeline. McKenzie and Bacon (2002) had the shortest follow‐up of 3–4 months. A common questionnaire used was Ahron's Quality of Co‐parental Communication Scale (Bonach, 2005; Bonach & Sales, 2002; Bonach et al, 2005; Dozier et al, 1993; Madden‐Derdich, & Leonard, 2002).…”

“…Mediation at divorce, as opposed to litigation, was found by several studies to decrease conflict in the postdivorce coparenting relationship (Emery et al, 1999; Sbarra & Emery, 2005; 2008). Mandatory coparenting education programs during the divorce process was associated with decreased conflict (McKenzie & Bacon, 2002). Cookston et al (2006) reported that the Dads for Life intervention, a preventative program developed to improve noncustodial fathering, found both fathers and mothers believed there was less conflict in their coparenting relationship when the father received the intervention.…”