Examining What Works In Parent Management Training

Giving Compass’ Take:

• Social Programs That Work examines Parent Management Training — the Oregon Model, which helps train single mothers with sons aged 6-10 in discipline, skill encouragement and other areas.

• Sons of women in the program group had substantially fewer arrests over nine years. Could this be a model for other parent and guardian training programs around the country?

• Here’s why educating children often starts with parents.

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Parent Management Training — the Oregon Model (PMTO) is a manualized parent training program for recently-separated single mothers with sons aged 6-10. The program consists of 14 weekly meetings with groups of approximately ten mothers, each led by a pair of trained female staff whose degree levels range from high school diploma to Ph.D. Children do not attend the meetings, and the program does not directly intervene with them.

The meetings teach five core parenting practices: appropriate, non-coercive discipline (e.g., setting limits, following through, reinforcing prosocial behavior); skill encouragement (e.g., breaking tasks such as homework into achievable steps); monitoring; problem solving; and positive involvement. They also teach skills tailored to divorcing women, including (i) emotional regulation (e.g., recognizing negative emotions, and practicing techniques to help regulate them); (ii) managing inter-parental conflict (e.g., through problem solving and negotiation); and (iii) addressing children’s divorce-related concerns (e.g., through active listening, problem solving, and recognizing and managing emotions).

In addition, the program includes a 30-minute videotape, showing families using effective parenting practices to help their children adjust to the divorce. Between meetings, content is reinforced through home practice assignments and mid-week phone calls providing homework support.

Read the full article about Parent Management Training — The Oregon Model at Social Programs that Work.