Contact: Elizabeth Pottinger, Applied Research Centre – Health & Lifestyle Interventions, Room WF105, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB. Tel + 44 2476 887 176 Email [email protected] What Should We Tell The Children? – Preliminary Evaluation of an Evidence-Based Programme to Promote Parent-Child Communication about Relationships and Sex Elizabeth Pottinger, Julie Bayley & Katie Newby Open and relaxed parental communication is important for safer sexual behaviour of young people. However many parents express concerns about their level of knowledge, skills and confidence needed to talk to their children about relationships and sex. Coventry Teenage Pregnancy Partnership Board commissioned the development of ‘What should We Tell the Children…about Relationships and Sex’ (WSWTTC), a theory and evidence-based 6-week programme to help parents to talk with their children about these topics. The intervention was developed using Intervention Mapping, and in collaboration with experts in adult education, parenting and sexual health. The programme has been implemented across Coventry and Warwickshire with a variety of parents and carers and has been evaluated with 5 groups undertaking the course over a 9 month period. To assess the impact of the course on self- reported confidence, embarrassment, knowledge and behaviour. Feedback will also help to improve this programme for future parents as well as informing the development of related projects. The majority (57.9%) of parents reported feeling much more confident talking to their children about relationships and sex, 79% reported increased knowledge and 73.7% reported feeling less embarrassed. Most parents (78.9%) also reported feeling more able to start conversations with their children and 47.4% more able to respond to their children’s questions about sex and relationships. Self-reported frequency of communication was also higher after the course, with 68.4% reporting talking more often to their children about relationships and sex. These results were also supported by comments parents made: “This course has given me the conﬁdence to talk to my children about sex and relationships, and with my eldest son hitting puberty, about the changes happening to his body. I know to respect his privacy and to listen to any questions he has and not to 'react' - then think, but to 'think' and then react.” The WSWTTC programme is successful in supporting parents to improve their knowledge, skills and confidence in talking with their children about sex and relationships. It also impacts upon the frequency of home-based communication about these topics. A larger-scale evaluation of the WSWTTC programme over a longer period with a much larger sample is needed to fully examine effectiveness. Evaluation questionnaires were completed by 19 (89% females) course attendees to measure the impact of the course on confidence, embarrassment, knowledge, ability to start conversations and ability to respond to questions from their children about relationships and sex. Much Less Slightly less No Change Slightly More Much More 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Parents Rating of Relationship and Sex Communication Change Post-course Confidence Frequency Knowledge Start Conversations Respond to Questions Rating Scale Percentage Much Less Slightly less No Change Slightly More Much More 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Parents Rating of Relationship and Sex Communication Change Post-course Embarrassment Rating Scale Percentage Background Aims Method Findings Conclusion Findings continued…

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What Should We Tell The Children? – Preliminary Evaluation of an Evidence-Based Programme to Promote Parent-Child Communication about Relationships and Sex

Elizabeth Pottinger, Julie Bayley & Katie Newby

Open and relaxed parental communication is important for safer sexual behaviour of young people. However many parents express concerns about their level of knowledge, skills and confidence needed to talk to their children about relationships and sex.

Coventry Teenage Pregnancy Partnership Board commissioned the development of ‘What should We Tell the Children…about Relationships and Sex’ (WSWTTC), a theory and evidence-based 6-week programme to help parents to talk with their children about these topics.

The intervention was developed using Intervention Mapping, and in collaboration with experts in adult education, parenting and sexual health. The programme has been implemented across Coventry and Warwickshire with a variety of parents and carers and has been evaluated with 5 groups undertaking the course over a 9 month period.

To assess the impact of the course on self-reported confidence, embarrassment, knowledge and behaviour. Feedback will also help to improve this programme for future parents as well as informing the development of related projects.

The majority (57.9%) of parents reported feeling much more confident talking to their children about relationships and sex, 79% reported increased knowledge and 73.7% reported feeling less embarrassed. Most parents (78.9%) also reported feeling more able to start conversations with their children and 47.4% more able to respond to their children’s questions about sex and relationships.

Self-reported frequency of communication was also higher after the course, with 68.4% reporting talking more often to their children about relationships and sex. These results were also supported by comments parents made:

“This course has given me the confidence to talk to my children about sex and relationships, and with my eldest son hitting puberty, about the changes happening to his body. I know to respect his privacy and to listen to any questions he has and not to 'react' - then think, but to 'think' and then react.”

The WSWTTC programme is successful in supporting parents to improve their knowledge, skills and confidence in talking with their children about sex and relationships. It also impacts upon the frequency of home-based communication about these topics. A larger-scale evaluation of the WSWTTC programme over a longer period with a much larger sample is needed to fully examine effectiveness.

Evaluation questionnaires were completed by 19 (89% females) course attendees to measure the impact of the course on confidence, embarrassment, knowledge, ability to start conversations and ability to respond to questions from their children about relationships and sex.

Much Less Slightly less

No Change

Slightly More

Much More

Parents Rating of Relationship and Sex Communication Change Post-course

Confidence

Frequency

Knowledge

Start Conver-sations

Respond to Questions

Rating Scale

Perc