European Research Network about Parents in Education (ERNAPE)
11th Biennial
Conference:
'Intensification, constraint and opportunity: changing roles for
parents, schools and communities. Addressing equity and diversity
issues'.
5-7 July 2017, Whitelands College, University of Roehampton,
London UK.
David Preece PhD1, Loizos Symeou PhD2, Jasmina
Stošić PhD3, Eleni Theodorou PhD2, Katerina Mavrou PhD2,
Jasmina Troshanska PhD4, Jasmina Frey Škrinjar PhD3,
& Vladimir Trajkovski MD, PhD4
1. Centre for Education and
Research. School of Education, University of Northampton
2. School of Arts and
Education Sciences, European University Cyprus.
3. Faculty of Education and
Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb.
4. Macedonian Scientific Society for Autism.
Presenting authors: David Preece & Loizos Symeou
Abstract
General description: Autism challenges traditional parenting styles, and can make
parents feel deskilled and disempowered, especially if little information or
support is available to them. Giving
accurate information about autism to parents, and teaching them to adapt their
parenting using good autism practice has been shown to be effective in
improving personal, educational and social outcomes for individuals with autism
and their families (Green et al.,
2010). However, in some parts of Europe, such support is extremely limited or
non-existent.
This paper reports on a three-year EU-funded project (September
2015-August 2018) in which family members, professionals and academics are
working together in a strategic partnership. The partnership’s objectives are
to develop a core parent autism training curriculum/locally appropriate parent
education materials and methods, to provide parent education in three
south-eastern European countries, and to share the curriculum and materials
with stakeholders across Europe.
Methods/methodology: The project is evaluated using a combined process and outcome
evaluation methodology (Royse et al.,
2009). This includes the use of quantitative methods (pre-training,
post-training and follow up parent questionnaires, incorporating a validated
Quality of Life scale), qualitative methods (parent interviews, trainer focus
groups and trainer reflective diaries) and document analysis.
Findings: The paper presents an overview of the work undertaken by the
partnership to date. This comprises a survey of parents (n=148) and the
identification of the core curriculum (Preece et al., 2016), the development of the training materials and
training teams, and the establishment of the parent training courses.
Initial parent training courses have been held in the three
countries between March 2016 and March 2017. Findings are shared from the
analysis of quantitative and qualitative data collected with regard to the
experience of living with autism of these parents (n=approx. 120), the training
and its impact. Implications for the further development of the project are
identified and discussed.
Key words: parent education, family quality of life, autism.
