Web-Enhanced Pre-Service Training for Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Parents

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In Phase II we will complete and evaluate a Web-enhanced pre-service training program for prospective foster caregivers. The program, developed by the Institute for Human Services, is a standardized pre-service training curriculum in current use nationally. Face- to-face contact between agencies and parents allows staff to screen and forge relationships with the parents. However, a substantial part of the training involves instructional activities that build knowledge and shape attitudes essential to foster care. Delivering these components online offers distinct advantages: First and foremost, online modules could serve as make-up classes for parents who miss a class. This would allow parents and agencies to complete the entire training without having to devote additional resources for a make-up class or having to restart or delay the training. It would also give other homebound caregivers in the family the opportunity to view the curriculum. The online modules could also be used as an added teaching tool for classroom training. In the proposed program the 12 proposed online training modules would be stand-alone instructional units. In Phase I we developed a foundational module using Flash technology on Child Abuse and Neglect. The feasibility study showed that the interactive multimedia delivery was in fact more effective than the classroom delivery in conveying knowledge; it also received higher user satisfaction ratings than the classroom training; and it was slightly more effective than the classroom training in increasing empathy for birth parents. In Phase II we will develop and evaluate each of the remaining 11 training modules. The online modules will also be produced for CD to accommodate parents who do not have access to high-speed Internet. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Subjects participating in this project will gain important information that will prepare them to be effective resource parents for foster or adopted children. As a result, the quality and skill of their parenting could improve, as well as the well-being of the children in their care.