Understandings of efficacy: cross-national perspectives on ‘what works’ in supporting parents and families

Abstract

The research literature on parenting support typically focuses on English-speaking countries, such as England, the United States and Australia. This article draws on a review, commissioned by the English government, which examined policies and services to support parenting in five European countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, and considered the evidence for effectiveness. In exploring differences between the five countries, and with England, this article raises questions about the way in which understandings of ‘what works’ can inform the ways in which support for parents and families is designed and delivered. An emphasis on formal outcome evaluations, as in England, favours the use of standardised parenting programmes, which are more amenable to evaluation of effectiveness using quasi-experimental research designs. In some other European countries, support for parents and families is embedded in universal service provision, rather than a discrete, time-limited ‘intervention’, and hence evaluation is more likely to involve assessment of individual progress (is this working for this family?) rather than assessment of the overall efficiency of a standardised programme.

Keywords:

• parenting support
• effectiveness
• parents
• families

Notes

1. Source of quotation was Home Office website; link is no longer active.

2. Renamed as the Department for Education in May 2010.

3. Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Spain.

4. The second phase of work focused on non-English language European countries in order to make best use of available financial resources for the project.

5. Basic Law (Grundgesetz) of 1949; Sozialgesetzbuch (SGB) Achtes Buch (VIII) Kinder- und Jugendhilfe; and KJHG, 1991.

6. Law No. 328/2000

7. http://www.nji.nl/eCache/DEF/1/03/055.html

8. See http://www.spesoc.dk/default.asp?id=140688&imgid=512&fullsize=orig

9. Danielsen (2008) reported that two-thirds of children aged 6 months to 2 years use some kind of childcare, usually family day care or crèches, and this proportion rises to 93% among 3- to 6-year-old children, who are in kindergartens, mostly full day.

10. Réseaux d’Ecoute, d’Appui, et d’Accompagnement des Parents.

11. For example, according to a Circular of 13 February 2006 with respect to REAAP, professional staff may not be permanently employed to lead networks, although they may be engaged for specific tasks, such as information provision or facilitation.