The positive results of the BASIC Parenting Programme, part of the Incredible Years parent, child and teacher programmes, were unveiled by the University of Wales' Centre for Promoting the Incredible Years Programmes at a conference on behaviour in Bangor last week.
The study was carried out by Dr Judy Hutchings, who received a 250,000 grant from the Health Foundation to research the effectiveness of the programme with children aged three to four who are at high risk of developing behavioural problems.
Results show that parents who attend the two-hour weekly sessions for 12 weeks gain new parenting skills and find their children far better behaved and easier to manage, with significant improvements in compliance with parents' instructions.
The programme, founded by Professor Carolyn Webster-Stratton at the University of Washington in Seattle, focuses on parents building positive relationships with their children from the age of two, including praising positive behaviour and ignoring the negative.
Professor Webster-Stratton attended the conference and was pleased at the programme's success. Dr Hutchings said, 'She was excited about the results.
Seattle is a city with three million people and Wales has a total population of only three million. But although the largely rural and, in some cases, bilingual population of north-west Wales is very different to the urban population of Seattle, it is clear that the programme has transferred extremely well.'
The BASIC parenting programme is delivered by Sure Start centres in 13 communities across north and mid-Wales and the borders. Success has also been achieved with two other Incredible Years schemes, the Therapeutic Dinosaur Programme, aimed directly at children with behavioural difficul- ties, and the Classroom Management Programme for teachers. The teacher programme has run for two years in 106 primary schools in Gwynedd.
According to Dr Hutchings, the importance of teaching good behaviour cannot be over-emphasised. She said, 'Early childhood behaviour difficulties often lead to serious behavioural problems, which can develop into drug abuse, depression and criminality as the children reach adulthood.
'All of the Incredible Years programmes are effective in nurturing good behaviour and in providing children with the abilities to be able to understand and control their own emotions.'