Part 1: Table of Contents |
Home-Based Programs for Parents and their Children
Another approach to involve parents in their children's sexuality
education would reach them in their homes through video or
written materials.
Home-based video programs have several possible advantages.
First, they do not require parents to go to a particular location at
a particular time. Instead, health clinics, schools, or libraries can
loan the materials to parents. In addition, parents can review the
program and make certain they are comfortable with both the
values discussed and the activities suggested prior to using them
with their own children. And finally, the home-based programs
can teach skills that parents can practice and use in the home to
teach their children.
On the other hand, home-based video programs have several
disadvantages. One is that families may not complete the activities
or may simply view them (which is relatively easy to do), without
completing the role playing or skill practice (which requires much
more initiative, involvement, and thinking and may feel threatening).
In addition, the videos may seem unrealistic to both young
people and parents.Youth often think the teens in videos dress
or act differently than they themselves do and that the situations
are not realistic. Both the youth and their parents may also have
difficulty relating to the youth and the situations in the video
because they feel they are contrived.
Home-based video programs are often quite comprehensive. For
example, Facts and Feelings was a video program that included six
videos and written materials.1 The videos provided information,
modeled parent-child communication in dramatic scenarios, and
emphasized sexual values consistent with abstinence. Each of the
six videos was brief (about 15 to 20 minutes) so that families
could discuss the topics after viewing each video.The written
materials suggested questions and topics for discussion.Together
they covered changes in puberty, facts about reproduction,
parent-teen communication, values and sexual behavior, sexuality
in the media, decision-making skills, and communication skills.
Because of the targeted age group (10 to 14 year olds), the
program focused on abstinence. In addition, phone calls were
made biweekly to encourage the use of the materials.
In a study that employed an experimental
design and both three-month and
one-year follow-ups, results indicated
that the program increased teen
knowledge and parent-child
communication during the first three
months after the families had the
videotapes but that those increases
dissipated within the year.
The program did not significantly
affect students' values, their perceptions of parents' values, their
perception of peer values, their perceived likelihood of having
intercourse before marriage, the likelihood of intercourse during the
following year, or the actual onset of intercourse.The last finding
was not surprising, since less than five percent of the preteens
and young teens in the treatment and control groups had
initiated intercourse.
In sum, the results indicated that the program did increase
parent-child communication about sexuality in the short run, but
this effect did not endure and did not have an impact upon other
values, intentions, or behavior of the young people.
This study and others demonstrate it is possible to develop
comprehensive video-based materials for families to watch
together and that under some conditions—particularly with
encouragement—families will watch them.2 However, families
and their children may not engage in all the suggested discussions
and/or activities.The videos can increase parent-child communication
about sexuality, but they may not prove sufficiently powerful to
cause many other measured effects upon the teens.
In addition to these videos, hundreds of written materials have
been designed to send home to parents.These range from postcards
with a simple message, to parent newsletters, to thoughtful manuals,
to book-length guides on talking with children about sexuality. No
evaluations of these materials met the criteria for inclusion in this
analysis. However, it appears likely that these materials—especially the
short ones—might slightly increase parent knowledge and might
briefly and slightly increase their motivation to talk with
their children.
The periodic newsletters might prove somewhat more effective,
and the lengthy instructional guides might help those parents
who actually use them. Unfortunately, many parents, especially
those of young people at highest risk, are not likely to read much
of the text and act upon it. Despite their impact, which is likely to
be modest at best, the low cost of most of these materials may
mean they are actually cost effective.
References
- B. C. Miller, M. C. Norton, G. O. Jenson,T. R. Lee, C.
Christopherson, and P. K. King, "Impact Evaluation of Facts &
Feelings: A Home-Based Video Sex Education Curriculum," Family
Relations, 1993, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 392-400.
- R. A. Winett, E. S. Anderson, J. F. Moore, K. J. Sikkema, R. J.
Hook, D. A.Webster, C. D.Taylor, J. E. Dalton,T. H. Ollendick, and
R. M. Eisler, "Family/Media Approach to HIV Prevention: Results
with a Home-based, Parent-Teen Video Program," Health
Psychology, 1992, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 203-6; R. A. Winett, E. S.
Anderson, J. F. Moore, C. D.Taylor, R. J. Hook, D. A.Webster,T. E.
Neubauer, M. C. Harden, and L. L. Mundy, "Efficacy of a
Home-Based Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevention Video
Program for Teens and Parents," Health Education Quarterly, 1993,
vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 555-67.
For more information, contact siecus@siecus.org.
copyright © 2003, SIECUS
Web Master: siecus@siecus.org
http://www.familiesaretalking.org
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