The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.
Volume X, Number 4, Winter 2004/2005
Issue Topic: Evaluating Family Involvement Programs
Promising Practices
A Catalog of Family Process Measures
Margaret Caspe from HFRP describes the various measures family intervention and prevention programs use to evaluate family processes.
Developmental research confirms the importance of family processes and of the home environment in child and youth development and learning. How do intervention programs measure changes in family processes? To address this question, the Family Involvement Network of Educators (FINE) here at Harvard Family Research Project reviewed rigorously evaluated intervention and prevention programs that sought to change children’s cognitive and socioemotional development by supporting both children and parents. Using the database of effective interventions developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,¹ we identified 13 programs that measured family processes along four dimensions: family context, parent-child relationship, parenting practices, and parent involvement in children’s learning in the home and school.
Family context refers to attempts on the part of the program to address issues of family functioning and the family environment, including stress, isolation, family cohesion, and problems related to child and substance abuse. Parent-child relationship relates to efforts to affect parent-child bonding, including increasing-parent-child communication, positive interactions, and attachment. In the parenting practices dimension, programs impact parenting strategies as regards effective and positive discipline practices, appropriate parental expectations, and monitoring. Lastly, parent involvement refers to a program’s intent both to increase parents’ skills, beliefs, and attitudes in supporting children in homework and literacy activities, and to bolster family and school relationships and parent-teacher communication.
New Resource From HFRPHFRP founder and director, Heather Weiss, along with Project Manager Holly Kreider, Senior Consultant M. Elena Lopez, and Celina Chatman of the University of Chicago’s Harris Graduate School of Public Policy have edited a volume of research- |
See a breakdown (23KB Acrobat file) of the various measures programs use to evaluate family processes.
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¹ For more information go to modelprograms.samhsa.gov/template_cf.cfm?page=model_list.
Margaret Caspe, Consultant, HFRP