Impact of the "learning together, growing in family" programme on the professionals and attention to families services

Abstract

The group programmes of parental education are important in the intervention with families in situations of psychosocial risk in order to promote parental competences and the positive development of the children. These programmes must be sustainable in time, which requires the professionals to valuate positively the introduction of this type programme in the service. The aim of this study is to discover the changes in the professional development and the service reported by the facilitators of the groups after the implementation of the “Learning together, growing in family” programme. Taking part were 138 facilitators and 53 collaborating bodies of CaixaProinfancia who have attended to 1,270 families (609 parents and 661 children) in 12 Spanish cities. The programme contains 14 weekly sessions directed at parents and children separately and both groups together. Following a quantitative and qualitative methodology, the results indicate that after the application of the programme the animators considered most competent in the interaction with the families, in the organisation of the work, in the coordination of the programme with other services and in the relation with other professionals. These changes are modulated by age, qualification and years of experience in group dynamics. In the results of the focus groups we see that the facilitators have used many skills in attracting the participants, in the rigorous evaluation of the programme, the suitable development of the sessions and they have very positively valued the impact of the programme on the families and on their professional development.