Evaluating Parent-Child Education Programs
Suzanne M. Johnson Vickberg, Ph.D., Director of Programs and Evaluation
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Also available in [PDF] format.
Family communication about sexuality is an important factor in young people's healthy
sexual development, but families do not always find it easy to communicate
about sexuality. Planned Parenthood affiliates and other community organizations
sometimes try to address this need by conducting educational programs for parents
and their children or teens. It is important to evaluate programs to assess
their effectiveness with your community. Evaluation results can help you revise
the program for the next group. Tips on evaluation follow.
- In parent-child workshops, at least two groups are involved
in the evaluation process (parents and young people),
and these groups will likely need separate evaluation
tools.
- If one objective is to increase family communication about
sexuality, the evaluation should go beyond assessing
knowledge levels to determine how the program affected
family dynamics or communication among family members.
- A useful post-workshop question is to ask teens whether
they learned anything new about their parents
and vice versa. Another is whether they feel
any differently about bringing up sexuality issues
after the workshop than before.
- Homework, in the form of some follow-up questions (to be mailed
back to you), can assist in maintaining the connection
between parents and children, and give them reasons
to raise sexuality issues later.
- The evaluation might also include contacting family members
later to see if they are communicating more since participating
in the program.
The following questions may be included in an evaluation tool
for young people. Ask them to think about the parent or
guardian to whom they feel the closest while answering the questions.
- How often do you talk with your parent or guardian about
issues related to sexuality?
Response Options: a) Never or almost never; b) A few times a year;
c) About once a month; d) About once a week; e) Almost
every day
- How comfortable do you feel when talking to your parent
or guardian about issues related to sexuality?
Response Options: a) Very uncomfortable; b) Uncomfortable; c)
Neutral—not uncomfortable or comfortable; d) Comfortable;
e) Very comfortable; f) I do not have conversations
with my parent or guardian about issues related to
sexuality.
- When it comes to talking with your parent or guardian
about issues related to sexuality, which of the following
best describes how you feel?
Response Options: a) I do not feel I can talk with them at all;
b) I feel there are only a few things I can talk with
them about; c) I feel I can talk with them about some
things, but not others; d) I feel I can talk with them
about most things; e) I feel that can talk with them
about absolutely anything.
- When
you have conversations with your parent or guardian
about issues related to sexuality, how helpful are
they?
Response
Options: a) Very unhelpful; b) Unhelpful; c) Neutral—not
helpful or unhelpful; d) Helpful; e) Very helpful;
f) I do not have conversations with my parent or guardian
about issues related to sexuality.
Questions
for parents may be similar to those for youth (with the
referent changed from "your parent or guardian" to "your child or teen").
Question four might be changed to say, "When you have conversations
with your child or teen about issues related to sexuality, how helpful
do you think they find the conversations?" Ask parents to report
their communication with each of their children separately,
especially if the children vary greatly in age. Other
possible questions for parents
include the following:
- When talking with your child or teen about sexuality, how
confident are you that you can answer their questions
accurately?
Response
Options: a) Not at all confident; b) Somewhat confident;
c) Confident; d) Very confident; e) I do not talk with
my child about sexuality.
-
How
confident do you feel that your child or teen would
come to you if she or he had a question about sexuality?
Response
Options: a) Not at all confident; b) Somewhat confident;
c) Confident; d) Very confident
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