FORT BENNING, Ga., (July 2, 2014) -- IRIS Educational Media is recruiting 200 eligible military parents to participate in an online evaluation study concerning parenting after deployment.
The study is a grant-funded, multi-media online parent education program named After Deployment: Adaptive Parenting Tools Online.
Though there are other eligibility requirements, the key stipulation is being a military parent who has returned from deployment since 2006 with children between the ages of 5-12 years old, according to irised.com/adaptii.
Abigail Gewirtz, Ph.D., licensed psychologist and a professor in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota, founded the program and joined with IRIS Ed, a behavioral research and development firm based in Eugene, Oregon, to produce this online version to reach out to military Families across the country.
According to the website, the program was created to address the stressors from deployments and constant re-integration that can disrupt Family functioning at home and lead to negative outcomes for children and parents.
Nell Caraway, IRIS Ed CEO and a coordinator of ADAPT Online, said there is hope parents will feel more effective and successful in parenting through this program.
The project will provide military parents with practical skills for co-parenting, managing Family conflicts and stress, addressing child anxieties, communicating, monitoring and supervising children, according to the website.
ADAPT Online features videos, skill-building exercises and other resources to help parents improve communication and skills using the Parent Management Training - Oregon approach.
The study consists of completing exercises based off what the parents see, Caraway said. There are nine different topics that will be covered, which include emotional regulation, how to give effective discipline and how to listen.
"(Parents) watch and practice," she said.
Caraway said there will be a pretest to measure where the parents are at and a post test to see if their attitudes or behavior changed. Participants are given about eight weeks to complete the study.
According to the website, ADAPT Online is the first evidence-based, online program that provides skills training to military parents and is the first time parenting education, specifically targeting military Families, has been made available in a private, convenient, online setting.
Caraway said the online benefit is the flexibility and fidelity of treatment.
"Each parent gets the same material," she said. "It isn't interpreted by different people, who might spin it a different way."
For participation in the evaluation, parents will receive $100.
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development fund the project, which is under the direction of IRIS Ed in collaboration with Oregon Social Learning Center, University of Oregon and the University of Minnesota.
For more information, visit www.irised.com/adaptii and visit their Facebook page at After Deployment: Adaptive Parenting Tools - ADAPT.
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