Mbrace Counseling and Behavioral Health Services: funding proposal

Maximizing Parenting Potential, Taylor & Wolfe

Maximizing Parenting Potential by Mbrace Agency

Candace Taylor & Lisa Wolfe

Funding Proposal for Counseling

Agency Description and Qualifications

The agency detailed in this assignment is called Mbrace Counseling and Behavioral Health Services. It provides a multitude of clinical services to a fairly wide client population, including family members, parents, children, and adults. Its mission is to work primarily with populations in urban and suburban settings to provide quality service for a diverse range of needs. Specifically, those needs are readily stratified into those pertaining to behavioral health services and mental health services. The organization specializes in issuing mental health services for multiple needs that include ailments related to a variety of family members including marital stress, family conflict; conduct disorder and job stress. Additionally, it also focuses on issues more common to individuals such as ADHD, depression, anxiety and others. The client population is varied as well, and includes those of low socio-economic standing such as clients with Medicaid and Amerigroup Insurance. The organization also does a significant amount of work with vulnerable populations, children with special needs, families and individuals, and women with a need for both empowerment and support in countless aspects of their lives.

Agency background and qualifications. Mbrace Counseling and Behavioral Health Services is located in Las Vegas, in the southern part of Nevada. As such, the surrounding community is extremely diverse, and contains a substantial amount of historic minority groups as well as clients of Eurocentric backgrounds. A number of members of this community come from challenging socio-economic backgrounds and tend to have problems largely indicative of urban environments. There are many family issues such as single-parent households and situations in which parents have economic difficulties in attempting to earn wages, care for their children, and pay housing costs (Keene et al., 2015). Physically, the community has experienced its fair share of urban affliction contributing to issues of poverty and crime. Many clients reside in apartments, although there are a fair amount of single-family homes as well.

Although it was formed in 2013, Mbrace Counseling and Behavioral Health Services have a lengthy legacy of responding to the community in innovative ways to assist with client needs. This fact is due in no small part to the efforts of its owner and Licensed Clinical Social Worker Lo'Rece Mebane. Mebane has over 20 years of experience in the field of social work, and has played an instrumental role in assisting hundreds of clients throughout her career. As the leader of this agency, Mebane is personally responsible for supervising the efforts of her staff and student interns, all of whom contribute to providing the kind of care that is useful to the unique needs of its diverse population group. During its relatively brief history, the agency was instrumental in facilitating the organization and management of a Women's Empowerment Support Group -- which it formed based on the consistent findings that numerous members of the female community routinely encountered situations in which they were disenfranchised. Based on the success of this group, Mbrace is in the process of forming a Parent Educational Group to deal with the myriad issues surrounding parents in the community. These include dealing with interpersonal issues associated with family dynamics in the inner city, in addition to provisioning peer-based support and coping skills for parents.

Problems in Client Functioning with Existing Services

The primary problem in client functioning within the community that Mbrace treats is the combination of economic and social factors that contributes to pronounced periods of stress for individuals and families (Myers et al., 2015). Specifically, there is a stigma associated with mental healthcare and the kind of behavioral services that Mbrace provides within the numerous historic minority groups it services (Keene et al., 2015). That stigma is less pronounced in its Eurocentric clients who nonetheless experience socio-economic constraints that typically prevent them from seeking help for such issues. Quite simply, there are no other behavioral health services organizations within this community that can tend to the needs of this population. On the one hand, Mbrace provides an environment in which clients can receive services at rates that they can afford. On the other, the staff of Mbrace is well trained in the nuances of tailoring mental health services to historic minority groups in a way that accounts for the myriad cultural differences that attend to efficacy of treatment for these groups. With sufficient funding for a Parent Educational Support Group there is little doubt that this organization can continue to address the needs of its community by providing the kind of low-cost care that is necessary for its at-risk population.

Problem Statement

The Problem

While in one sense it appears that parenting skills come naturally, these skills are actually learned (Bowman et al., 2010). Throughout the history of mankind parents have had family networks to teach effective parenting, but families have become more mobile, and so young parents no longer live near their extended family, who traditionally gave them informal support, advice and assistance, and so the ease of sharing child-rearing wisdom from generation to generation has diminished (Bowman et al., 2010). A survey by the National Commission on Children found that 88% of adults found that they believe it is harder to be a parent than it used to be, and with both parents working outside the home it is even harder to find time for family responsibilities, self-care or social support (Bowman et al., 2010). Parent education programs can improve parenting skills, as well as child outcomes, and can also reduce the risk of child abuse and maltreatment (Johnson et al., 2006).

Research shows that parenting skills can minimize many of the negative long-term effects that impact not only individuals, but also families, communities and our social fabric. Parents, with enough support and education, have the power to create change, for they are the most important contributors to bringing about long-term change in children (Hardin & Mulsow, 2001). When families receive psychoeducation, which can be quite effective in groups, they can improve the quality of life of their family members, and the amount of family stress and strain can be reduced (Ruffolo, Kuhn, & Evans, 2005). This kind of group education can increase the parents' information base regarding parenting, as well as improve their problem solving skills and give them a more positive view own parenting, as well as their children's behavior (Ruffolo et al., 2005). In learning effective parenting the parents learn the importance of nurturing and affection; attentiveness, engagement and responsiveness; reliability and consistency; and monitoring, mentoring and modeling appropriate behavior for their children (Bowman, Pratt, Reenekamp, & Sektnan, 2010). In addition, having the format of a group not only produces positive change in parental perceptions and children's behavior that are maintained over time, but it contributes social support, meets the needs of a larger number of parents at each meeting, is therefore cost-effective, and it enables parents to deal better with new problems as they arise (Barlow & Stewart-Brown, 2000).

Explanatory Theory

Improvements in parenting, as can be gained from psycho educational parenting groups, can be explained by social learning theory and its relationship to attachment theory (O'Connor et al., 2013). Social Learning theory considers that children's learning is a result of real life experiences and exposures, including imitation and reinforcement, and from this the child learns strategies to manage their emotions and resolve disputes, and this learning most often comes from their parents (O'Connor et al., 2013). Poor learning in childhood can result in behavior problems that lead to delinquency, criminal behavior, drug abuse, alcoholism, poor marital and work outcomes, and even psychiatric disorders (Barlow & Stewart-Brown, 2000). Social learning theory can also be a valid theory in the parents learning in groups, for a study of single mothers showed that a community-based program of social support and education showed improved moods, self-esteem and parenting for the mothers versus those who did not receive that kind of group education (Lipman & Boyle, 2005). Training for parents can also offer children a more sensitive and responsive caregiver. Over time the child may see the parent as more responsive and available, which according to attachment theory can give them a secure working model of their self and other (O'Connor et al., 2013).

Relevant Policy

The existing policies that address parenting education groups mostly relates to court ordered parent education classes in cases of divorce. These programs are focused on the development and well-being of children of separation or divorce, and they exist in 46 states (Pollet & Lombreglia, 2008). Yet Parent Education Groups are used in a wide variety of settings throughout our nation, and studies of the effectiveness of parenting education show that in many cases it is highly effective (Hardin & Mulsow, 2001). A meta-analysis of 77 parenting programs has found that parent education groups show a significant improvement in changing parenting behavior and in improving child behavior problems (Kaminski, Valle, Filene, & Boyle, (2008). This psychoeducation can be used to address behavior problems in children that can lead to a poor prognosis in social, educational and health areas that has associated costs not only for the individual, but for society as a whole (Barlow & Stewart-Brown, 2000). These groups can be useful for primary prevention of the problems, as well as effective intervention (Barlow & Stewart-Brown, 2000). Effective parenting allows children to develop to their fullest potential, but it is necessary to have parenting relationships that provide stability, consistency, affection and responsiveness, and this is part of what is proposed to be taught in these groups (Bowman et al., 2010).

There is another area closely related to many laws and policies where parent education can be useful even before serious trouble arises. This is in the area of child abuse, where it has been found that parent educations programs can improve parenting skills, as well as child outcomes, and also reduce the future risk of maltreatment (Johnson et al., 2006). Child abuse policy often is focused on the identification and reporting of the victims, and there is little consideration given to prevention (Newberger & Newberger, 1982). Parent education programs are designed to increase the parent's knowledge about children and parenting; give parents a chance to practice using what they have learned; teach parents how to manage their children without abusing them; teach parents how to manage stress; and help their parents improve their relationships with others (Shannon, n.d.).

Effective parenting education programs can enhance parent's child-rearing skills, competence and confidence (Bowman et al., 2010). It is a well-researched and clinically tested method for addressing a wide range of childhood problems and dysfunctions (Hardin & Mulsow, 2001).These groups can promote protective factors and lead to positive outcomes for both parents and children (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2001).

Goals and Objectives

The purpose of the Mbrace agency's Maximizing Parenting Potential (MPP) group is to create a safe and supportive setting for psychoeducation for the client population to learn about effective parenting, so that stress in the family can be reduced, relationships may improve, and protective factors in the family, as well as positive outcomes may be enhanced. The process objective is to have the participants take part in an 8-week program, which includes one home visit. The outcome objectives are as follows:

Goal #1: To increase parents' knowledge of effective parenting techniques in a variety of areas and strategies through psycho education, and thus reducing the likelihood of child abuse.

Objective #1: Measure increase in knowledge of appropriate expectations for children over the course of the 8-week Maximizing Parenting Potential group, including an increase in empathy and attitudes toward punishment with overall improvement of 30% as measured by the Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2) (Family Development Resources, 2014).

Objective #2: Increase knowledge in protective factors against child abuse by 30% and reduce likelihood of abuse occurring by 50% as measured by pre and posttest by the Nurturing Skills Competency Scale (NSCS) chosen according to the age of the child and the status of the parent as a teen parent or not (Family Development Resources, 2014).

Goal #2: To reduce stress in families as parents perceive themselves to be more competent as parents, and children's behavior improves.

Objective #1: Decrease of parental stress by 30% by the end of the eight-week MPP Program as measured by the Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 2012).

Objective #2: Decrease in behavioral issues of 50% as measured by the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessments (ASEBA) as reported by parents (ASEBA, 2015).

Program Statement

Overview

The Mbrace Maximizing Parenting Potential program is an eight-week psycho educational group that will improve the knowledge of the parents who attend in the areas of child development and non-violent discipline, as well as to enhance communication and problem-solving skills (NREPP, 2015). The groups will meet weekly, in either English or Spanish, and will be divided into age groups of children, with one group for parents of 0- to 7-year-olds and one for parents of 7- to 12-year-olds. The initial program will consist of 3 different groups meeting for 2 hours each on a weekly basis, and each family will be offered one home visit. There will be up to 15 parents in each group, and childcare will be offered during the meetings. The groups will be led by trained parent educators, who may be social service professionals, para professionals or parents who have previously completed the program, and there will be training for these leaders (NREPP, 2015).

The owner and founder of the Mbrace Counseling and Behavioral Health Services, Lo'Rece Mebane, has identified the need of a parent education group to assist those in the client base to improve their information and skills in parenting, even as they face the challenges of economic difficulties and, in many cases, single-parent households. A study was published in 2014 that assessed parenting education needs for parents and caregivers of young children in southern Nevada, where the agency is located. This study reported that parenting is a learned skill that can be strengthened through education and experience, and the quality of interactions between parents and children have a significant impact on early development, both positively and negatively (Kim, 2015). Parenting education has been shown to have positive long-term results for both parents and children, and they noted that a self-administered survey given to residents of southern Nevada found that the parents or caregivers who were Latino and had the least education and the lower income, often being non-English speakers, were the most interested in attending parenting workshops (Kim, 2015).

Program Services

The program services would include not only psychoeducation to increase knowledge of child development and expectations, good communication practices and interactions to improve children's behavior, but also stress reduction technique. Stress reduction would be achieved not only through having a better knowledge on how to parent well, but also by teaching techniques such as meditation. A service that would result from the group setting is social support, and there would also be a component to help parents learn skills of identifying community services that are offered to families (Grayson, 2013). Childcare would be provided because it would increase attendance, which can have a significant impact on the results, and participants could choose to continue with ongoing support groups. It has been shown that participation in parent education groups can improve parental attitudes, reduce parenting stress levels and encourage authoritative parenting practices (Wolfe & Haddy, 2001). Parent education has also been identified as a core preventative service for reducing child abuse by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (Grayson, 2013).

Target Population

The target population would be clients of the MBrace agency who could benefit from parenting information and increasing parenting skills in order to be more knowledgeable and effective parents, reduce stress, and the likelihood of child abuse, as they face economic difficulties, and in many cases the stress of being a single parent. The pilot groups would be recruited from the agency's client base, and then future participants would be recruited through posters and advertisements at churches, neighborhood stores, schools and other areas that the target population might visit. There could also be public service announcements on the radio, particularly the Spanish speaking stations. If needed, more of the sessions could be conducted in Spanish, but the 3 groups, which could be slightly staggered so they could share space and child care services, could each be offered 4 times a year, so serving 180 parents a year.

Evidence-Based Model

The curriculum will be based on a program that has been called Parenting Education Program, Metropolitan Family Services, and Parenting Fundamentals, and is currently on the SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices where the research ratings were 3.3 out of 4.0 for understanding of parenting strategies and improvements in child behavior (NREPP, 2015). The model will be adapted to cover the two age groups, instead of 4 different age groups, at least initially, but the program has already been tested in Spanish (NREPP, 2015). The evidence-based findings show outcomes of a greater understanding of parenting strategy at the end of the intervention, as well as a better home environment, and improved child behavior. The components added, in order to better serve the clients, would be the availability of child care, continuation of groups for those who desire continued support, and information specific to the area to give information about other available services.

Program Theory

Because of the many stressors in the lives of the clients of the Mbrace agency, parent education could help give education, information on services and social support to those who are struggling with financial and family hardships. Effective parenting training can allow parents to acquire and internalize parenting and problem-solving skills that will assist them in having a healthy family that operates well as a unit (Grayson, 2013). Such groups can also promote protective factors and thus bring about positive outcomes for parents and children alike. Maximizing Parenting Potential will show parents the importance of nurturing and attachment; help them understand child development help the parents build resilience even as they develop meaningful social connections, inform them of useful child management techniques, and offer concrete support for the parents (Grayson, 2013). This kind of education and support can create change in families that can bring about positive changes in children and the family (Hardin & Mulsow, 2001). The parents my experience less stress and gain a positive view of the parenting as their problem solving skills improve (Ruffolo et al., 2005)

Implementation Methods

The required resources for implementing the program include physical space, supplies, and equipment. With regards to physical space, the program will be conducted in Mbrace agency's conference room while equipment will entail using the organization's computers, printers, projectors, and televisions for the educational sessions. For the advertisements, the agency will use its public address system for announcements in schools and neighborhood stores. The agency will acquire the curriculum from Parenting Education Program, Metropolitan Family Services, and Parenting Fundamentals. Supplies like printing papers, books, ring binders, and articles will be acquired.

The facilitators of the program will be mental health professionals trained in the field of counseling, psychotherapy, and case management. These professionals will work in collaboration with social workers and professionals from the National Parenting Education Network. These professionals will be required to have relevant qualifications from their specific fields and licensed to practice by the relevant bodies. Their roles and responsibilities include providing training during the weekly meetings, developing measures for assessment, conducting home visits and provide childcare and training leaders upon program completion.

This program fits effectively in the existing organizational structure of the agency as part of its client outreach initiatives (see Organizational Chart). This program fits within this objective and agency structure as a client outreach initiative for enhancing parenting effectiveness among this population. However, some potential barriers to implementing this program include lack of motivation from client population and difficulties in recruiting participants. These barriers will be overcome by providing encouragement and empowerment to the population and informing participants of the program's benefits in effective parenting.

Research Questions

The research questions that will determine the effectiveness of the Mbrace Agency's

Maximizing Parenting Potential groups are focused on the goals of increasing parent's knowledge of effective parenting, reducing child abuse, reducing parenting stress and improving behavioral issues in the children. They will each be measured by using appropriate established instruments. The answers to these questions will determine if this new parenting program is successfully achieving its goals:

1. Do parents participating in Mbrace's MPP group program show an increased in knowledge of appropriate expectations for their children (which includes increased empathy and attitudes toward punishment) by 30% as measured by the Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory (Family Development Resources, 2015).

2. Do participants in the program show an increase in knowledge in protective factors against child abuse by 30% and a reduced likelihood of abuse occurring by 50% as measured by the Nurturing Skills Competency scale appropriate to the age of their child (Family Development Resources, 2015).

3. Do the parents in the MPP program show a decrease in parental stress of 30% as measured by the Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 2012).

4. Do the parents in the program report a decrease in behavioral issues of 50% as measured by the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessments (ASEBA, 2012)

Methodology

The research study to be conducted will be a pre-post-test design to see how much the participants improve in the 4 tested areas upon completion of the MPP 8-week group session. Due to limitations in staffing at the agency it would be difficult to conduct a multiple group study, especially as the mission, as expressed by the director Lo'Rece Mebane, is to help people heal and cope with various problems in life (Hall, 2015). It will therefore be assumed that the temporal precedence of the program to the post-test will be the factor that causes changes in scores from the pre-test, and although there will not be a definitive way of ruling out plausible alternative explanations multiple regressions will be run (Hall, 2015).

The purpose of this study is not to prove that the program on which it is based, Metropolitan Family Services is effective, for it was chosen from SAMHSA's list of evidence-based practices, but to establish what kind of effects it has on improving parenting situations for the clients of the MBrace agency, according to the chosen instruments (NREPP, 2015). Therefore the participants will have their post treatment scores compared to their pre-tests. The design for the experiment is shown by the simple diagram . If scores improve regarding appropriate expectations for children, knowledge of protective factors for child abuse, lowered parenting stress, and better reported behavior for the children it will be inferred that the critical factor was participation in this program, and that the program was successful.

Research Design

The participants for this program, which will be the pilot program for the parenting group will be recruited among the clients of the agency, and staff members who are working with these individuals may suggest the program to the parents with whom they are working, letting them know that participation is voluntary and will not affect other services. There may be up to 3 initial groups, offered for parents of 0- to 7-year-olds, and for 7- to 12-year-olds, in English or Spanish depending on the needs of the participants. Once the roster of participants for the 3 initial groups is established, the program director will contact the participants to schedule a time when they may come in to learn about the study and be given a consent form to sign. If they wish they can sign the consent form for the study during that meeting, but they will not be pressured to do so, but they will be given the option of bringing the signed form to the first meeting (additional forms will be available). They will be told that childcare will be available. The pretest measures will be administered to the participants at a preliminary group meeting set at a date at the same time of week before the 8 sessions start, but not during one of the sessions. The participants will learn more about the program at that time, introduce themselves to the group, and refreshments will be served. The program director will attend the meeting to collect the results and to code them each with a number. The data will be entered into a password protected computer program, and the paper copies will be locked in a secure file box in the program director's office.

Upon completion of the 8-week MPP program this procedure will be repeated at a 10th meeting to fill out the post-test assessments, and once again there will be refreshments, and a small graduation ceremony with certificates awarded. Once again the director will put the appropriate numbers and the instruments, and later she will compare the pre and post scores for each numbered individual and calculate the change in results for each, and then find the mean score of the completed assessments to see if the goals have been met. This will be done for each of the 4 instruments being used to see if the improvements in the 4 objectives have been achieved.

Measurement

The major concepts under study include the skills and knowledge gained through an 8-week parenting course and the resulting improvements (or lack thereof) in incidences of empathy and attitudes as well as in knowledge of appropriate expectations in child-rearing situations. The dependent variable the study seeks to measure is whether a specific parenting training program can benefit participants by providing learning in a number of different areas including stress reduction and improved behavioral issues in the parent's offspring. The independent variables include the training and education that is being offered through the parenting program to the participants. The operational definition of the independent variable, which is the Maximizing Parenting Potential program, would be an 8-week group-based program designed to improve participants' parenting strategies, and, by extension, to improve their children's behavior, social capacities, emotional competencies and cognitive abilities" (NREPP, 2015) When analyzing dependent and independent variables, the researcher must always be cognizant of the relationship between the two (Von Toussaint, Frey, & Gori, 2009) found that data analysis problems often arise due to negligible uncertainty of measurements between the response variable and the independent variable. To address that issue, the measurement tools will attempt to establish a baseline from which the other surveys will be compared.

Initial measurements will be conducted before the 8-week training session begins, and final measurements will be conducted at a final session. Comparing one to another should provide reliable data and results that will either confirm learning or the lack thereof. The dependent variables are the 4 assessment tools that will measure the success, or lack thereof, of the objectives of the program. The definitions of assessment tools are tools that enable the act of assessing, appraising and evaluating (Assessment, n.d.). Each tool is different and measures a separate dependent variable that addresses one of the objectives. Since there is a fee for each tool they are not attached, but there is a page in the appendix for each of them.

The Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2) addresses Objective 1, which is increasing parental knowledge of expectations for children, and it has a separate pre and post test assessment. It has been validated and proven to be reliable in assessing parenting attitudes (Family Development Resources, 2015). Objective 2 is measured by the Nurturing Skills Competency Scale (NSCS) to see how aware parents are of protective factors against child abuse, and to measure if the likelihood of abuse is reduced. (Family Development Resources, 2015). This tool addresses the issues of parenting programs being able to prevent the maltreatment of children, as it gathers information that will alert families about conditions that could lead to child abuse (Family Development Resources, 2015). Validation and testing of reliability are initially promising and ongoing. The third objective of reducing parenting stress is measured by the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) short form that measures parental distress, parent-child dysfunctional interactions, and difficult child subcategories (Abidin, 2012). The parental subscale has a reliability score of .75 to .87, and the test-retest reliability for parents is .70 (Abidin, 2012). The fourth objective of child behavior is measured by the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA), using the form for 1 1/2- to 5-year-olds (ASEBA, 2012), or 6- to 18-year-olds (ASEBA, 2012), as appropriate to be completed by parents. The ASEBA Child Behavior Checklist has very high test-retest reliability, with most test-retest Pearson correlations being in .80 to .90 range (ASEBA, 2012).

Strengths and Limitations of the Evaluation Plan

This evaluation plan has several strengths and limitations that relate to the implementation of the program. One of the strengths of this program is the research design, which will be based on the use of pre-post-test design. As previously mentioned, pre-post-test design will be utilized to examine how participants improve across the various areas in this program upon completion of the 8-week group session. The strength of this design is its high effectiveness in evaluating change in variables over time. Therefore, its use will help in generating accurate findings regarding the program's effectiveness based on the identified dependent variables. The second strength of this research process is sampling, which entails the use of convenience sampling that enables the researcher to work with a convenient population. The strength of sampling in the study originates from the fact that the researcher has conducted an analysis of the various sampling methods relative to their merits and demerits. To this extent, convenience sampling was found to be the most effective since it beneficial to the researcher in terms of ease of access to the participants. The researcher has also developed effective measures to address any potential disadvantages of this sampling method through conducting a review of every participant to determine his/her suitability for the program.

The third strength is the use of different measurement tools, which helps in improving reliability and validity of findings. Actually, each of these measurement tools has proven to be reliable and valid in evaluating the different dependent variables in the study. Fourth, the evaluation plan effectively addresses problems or issues relating to data analysis through establishing a baseline for comparison of surveys. The use of the measurement tools in setting baseline for surveys helps in ensuring the data analysis process is effective with regards to generating accurate results and conclusions. Finally, ethical issues in the study have been effectively addressed through inclusion of relevant policies in designing the program. As evident in the strengths, this evaluation plan for this program at Mbrace Agency is the best one at this time because it is cost-effective and would help generate accurate results.

Despite these numerous strengths, this evaluation plan is also characterized by several limitations that affect the utility of the findings. First, while the research design is suitable for the study, it is characterized by internal and external validity issues. These internal and validity issues relate to the fact that it is seemingly difficult for the researcher to prove that the sessions actually made a difference in the particularly experimental instances (Barton, Dietz & Holloway, 2004, p.33). Barton, Dietz & Holloway (2014) argue that this research design suffers of issues of history, maturation, instrumentation, and statistical regression. Moreover, this research design is limited since no follow-up testing was carried out on program participants to determine the sustainability of the changes over time.

Secondly, convenience sampling used in the study does not ensure precise representation of the target population. In essence, this sampling method does not generate a suitable representation of the population. Third, since different measurement tools are used to examine each dependent variable in the study, the measurement process is time consuming and extensive, which affects reliability of findings. Fourth, the data analysis process may also be tedious and time consuming since it involves the use of measurement tools to avoid data analysis problems. The final limitation is that the researcher has not developed and established comprehensive measures for addressing ethical issues in the study.

Therefore, these limitations have considerable effects on the utility of the findings, especially in relation to accuracy and reliability of findings. These limitations have considerable impacts on the internal and external validity of findings, which makes it difficult to know if the changes in the dependent variables are sustainable by participants over time. This implies that generalizing the findings of the study to the entire population is impossible because the sample does not effectively represent the population. Therefore, future studies may be required to determine whether these findings can be generalized to the target population.

Conclusion

Parenting skills not only come naturally but are also developed by learning as evident in the existence of family networks that focus on teaching effective parenting. In the past few decades, parents have experienced tremendous challenges in effective parenting because of the changing nature of families. Actually, families have become increasingly mobile and lack support from extended family towards enhancing child-rearing skills and competence. Therefore, parent education programs have become important in enhancing parenting skills and improving child outcomes through lessening child maltreatment and abuse. Moreover, enhanced parenting skills are associated with positive outcomes for families, communities, and the social fabric. This proposed program seeks to address existing gaps in effective parenting through providing parenting skills to help address stress factors for individuals and families. Mbrace Agency has the capacity and commitment to address these problems since it is currently in the process of creating a Parent Educational Group. This commitment is also demonstrated in its long legacy of responding to community needs through innovative ways that are suitable for its clients.

The results of the evaluation of this program will play a critical role in informing social work policy, administration, and/or policy. The program will demonstrate the need for social work policy and practice to incorporate parent educational programs as means of addressing the numerous problems for individuals, families, and the overall community. The program will highlight how child maltreatment and abuse can be avoided through such initiatives. This is likely to contribute to the enactment of social work policies that focus on providing funding and implementation of parent educational groups and initiatives to targeted populations.