efficacy

Evaluation of Kids' Turn

A program evaluation study was completed in 2000 to evaluate the impact of Kids' Turn on families undergoing divorce or separation. Kids' Turn collaborated with professors Gerald Michaels and Dan Taube from the California School of Professional Psychology (now Alliant University) to assess the program's effect. The study consisted of both a qualitative assessment of the program's strengths and a quantification of data about the population we are serving.

Currently, Kids' Turn of Sonoma researchers Jan Gilman, Ph.D., and Dana Schneider, MFT, are analyzing data collected from approximately 50 7-9-year-old participants to assess the impact of Kids' Turn on their functioning. The measurement tools consisted of the Children's Divorce Adjustment Inventory and children's response to divorce-related vignettes.

In the future, Kids' Turn would like to embark on a longitudinal study with the broader purpose of evaluating the impact of the Kids' Turn divorce intervention program on family functioning. That study would involve treatment and control groups, assessed at three different times over a period of years, with a particular focus on the effect which Kids' Turn has on the children, in terms of their individual functioning and their relationships with their parents.

STATISTICS FROM CSPP PROGRAM EVALUATION

In June of 2000, the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) completed an evaluation of our participant data from 1993-98. The information was gleaned from registration forms and final evaluation sheets from both parents and 7-14 year-old children (all analyzed without names or identifying information). In addition, the researchers conducted in-depth interviews with children and parent graduates of Kids’ Turn; this information was analyzed qualitatively. Since 1993, we have served almost 5,500 people, approximately half children and half parents. Below is a brief description of their findings.

Overall, the data suggested “that parents overwhelmingly found the experience beneficial in some way. Further, this was true across the four ethnic groups studied—African American, Asian American, Hispanic, and White parents.” A mere 1% said they would not recommend the program to other families going through divorce. “The majority of parents are indicating that this six-week intervention had an effect on how they see themselves, their child, and their child’s other parent.”

· 91% of parents agree or strongly agree that Kids' Turn helped them to communicate more openly and effectively with their children.

· Half report that their children expressed more feelings about the divorce and separation after the program, as opposed to before it began.

· Most significantly, “50% of these children reported that their parents were talking with them more since coming to Kids' Turn.”

· 91% of all parents say they agree or strongly agree that Kids' Turn helped them to understand their children's reaction to separation or divorce.

· 79% say Kids' Turn helped them learn how to discipline children more effectively.

· 86% of all parents attending say they agree or strongly agree that the workshop helped their children.

· In the qualitative interviews, “all 10 children responded positively in regards to the benefit of being with other children in a group and its ability to make them feel less alone or unique as a child of divorce.”

· A minimal 4% of children did not feel that Kids' Turn was a safe place for them to talk about their parents’ separation or divorce.

· A substantial number of parents reported that their children displayed less anger, sadness, irritability and crying after the program than before it started. This was mirrored in the children’s evaluations: the children reported positive changes in their feeling states -- a reduction in feelings of discouragement, guilt, sadness, fear, hurt, confusion, loneliness, worry, and feeling pulled apart, and an increase in feelings of excitement, happiness, and calmness.

· “At the end of the program, these youngsters were able to identify important coping strategies for handling the difficult adjustment to divorce.” A majority of children also said that coming to Kids' Turn helped them to understand separation and divorce.

· One-third of all parents say that as a result of Kids' Turn, they feel less likely to wind up in court over child custody issues.

· “More than half of the parents reported that Kids' Turn was effective in helping them co-parent with their ex-partner. Even including those parents who did not report such effects, this is a substantial finding.”