Parenting through Divorce
Published: 2006-07-14
Contact: Laura Backen Jones, Ph.D.
Company Name: IRIS Media, Inc.
Telephone Number: 541.343.4747
IRIS MEDIA AWARDED SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH GRANT TO DEVELOP "PARENTING THROUGH DIVORCE," AN ONLINE TRAINING PROGRAM
Eugene, Oregon, June 1, 2006—Divorce isn’t something that just happens between two adults. When children are in the picture, it’s the family that splits up, and it’s children who usually have the hardest time dealing with the loss, stress, guilt, anxiety, and upheaval of separation.
To help mitigate the impacts of divorce on children, IRIS Media, Inc., a Eugene, Oregon media development and behavioral research firm, has proposed and recently been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to develop and evaluate an online training program, Parenting Through Divorce. The goal of this program is to help recently divorced parents protect, support and educate their children while the family undergoes the divorce transition.
When complete, the Parenting Through Divorce online training program will allow parents to access an eight-module training course that integrates video demonstrations, interactive exercises, self-assessments and printable resources. The program will focus on family risk and protective factors, teaching adults how to handle parental stress and inter-parental conflict, and how to engage in proactive parenting practices. The program will also offer perspectives on child developmental needs, on learning practical skills, and on satisfying court-mandated parent-ed requirements
With over one million children in the United States experiencing family divorce annually, parent educators, child advocates, judges, lawyers, mediators working in the family court system are relying on parenting education as a way to protect and support children, yet little evidence-based materials are available.
Dr. Laura Backen Jones, Principal Investigator of the Parenting Through Divorce online training project, and a parenting educator herself had long noted this problem. “The court system in the United States is extremely concerned over the harm that children in divorcing families experience,” Dr. Jones notes. “As a result family courts frequently mandate parenting education when couples are in conflict. In spite of this, there are few practical, accessible, empirically-based training resources for strengthening and sustaining family processes associated with healthy adjustment of children from divorced families”.
Although there is great diversity in children’s post-divorce adjustment, the negative effects can be significant and persistent. Children aged five to 12 are especially vulnerable and often experience identity confusion, fears about the future, sadness, depression, struggles in school, and anger with parents. In the immediate months after parental separation, children grapple with changes in their life situation and in relationships within the family. Children face the risk of a loss of important relationships: close friends, extended family members, and, particularly, nonresident parents. Some children show enduring difficulties with approximately 20-25% of children of divorce showing serious mental health or life adjustment problems. In the words of Dr. Jones, “We hope to give divorcing parents the tools with which to remedy these problems and improve the outcome for children”.
Dr. Jones will lead a development and research evaluation team at IRIS Media. After producing the program, IRIS Media will conduct thorough field testing and evaluation by the target audience, divorcing parents, to determine program effectiveness and usability.
Author: Laura Backen Jones
