| CODE | FSC5520 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Training for Parents as Partners Co-facilitators | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 10 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Child and Family Studies | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Neuroscience research provides us with enough evidence that indicates that healthy development of infants takes place in the context of a secure attachment with significant adults that are able to attune to their needs (Newman et al., 2015). Therefore supporting parents to create a secure context inevitably directly contributes towards a child's healthy development. The Parents as Partners Programme (PasP) focuses on supporting parenting couples to be aware of how they parent, and to avoid repeating harmful patterns from their famiilies of origin. This programme also enables couples to nourish and rely on their relationship, as well as the relationship that is developed within the PasP group context during the programme to support them to develop more effective parenting. They are also supported to become more mindful of how their relationship as a couple impacts their relationship as parents and how this in turn has an impact on the child's wellbeing and development. The programme aims to enable greater involvement of both parents in family life, thus promoting a more positive outcome for children. The unit is divided into three main components. The first component exposes students to the programme format, delivery, and experience through workshops that run intensively over 4 days, carrying a total of 20 hours. The second component includes running the Parents as Partners Programme in co-facilitating pairs for 16 weeks (32 hours in total) with couples. The third component consists of 10 hours of supervision that runs alongside the duration of the programme. Study-unit Aims: - To provide learning and skills in the delivery and structure of the PasP; - To support the development of professional co-facilitating couples who can run the group effectively and reliably with parenting couples; - To create a pool of qualified and accredited co-facilitators for PasP in Malta. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Acquire insight into the programme rationale, design and material and demonstrate how it contributes to couple and family relationships across different domains; - Discuss and elaborate on experiencing the programme from the position of cofacilitator as well as recipient through first hand participation in workshops and conducting groups; - Analyse the complexity of relationships, particularly that of the couple as parents, and the interaction with the child and respective families of origin. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Demonstrate a working knowledge of how to conduct the different components of the programme; - Conduct group tasks with couples who attend the programme, whilst remaining faithful to the design and structure of the programme; - Use intervention skills with a number of couples issues and situations that can arise in the group; - Discuss and reflect on their own practice within the context of supervision. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - Casey, P., Cowan, P.A., Cowan, C.P., Draper, L., Mwamba, N., & Hewison, D. (2017). Parents as Partners: A U.K. Trial of a U.S. couples-based parenting intervention for at-risk low-income families. Family Process, 56 (3), 589-606. Doi: 10.1111/famp.12289. - Cowan, P. A., & Cowan, C. P. (2018). Enhancing parenting effectiveness, fathers’ involvement, couple relationship quality, and children’s development: Breaking down silos in family policy making and service delivery. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 11(1), 92-111. doi:10.1111/jftr.12301 - Pruett, M.K., Cowan, P.A., Cowan, C.P., Gillette, P., & Pruett, K.D. (2019). Supporting Father Involvement: An intervention with community and child welfare-referred couples. Family Relations, 68 (1), 51-67. Doi. 10.1111/fare.12352. - Grech Lanfranco, I. (2020). Early Coparenting Programmes with Parents of Infants with a Highly Reactive Temperament: A randomised study using 'Parents as Parners' (PasP). PhD theis. University of Malta. - Newan, L., Sivaratnam, C. & Komiti, A. (2015). Attachment and Early Brain Development: Neuroprotective interventions in infant-caregiver therapy. Translational Developmental Psychiatry (3) 28647. http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/tdp.v3.28647. |
||||||||
| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Pre-Requisite qualifications: Warranted Family Therapists, Psychotherapists, Psychologists, Counsellors. | ||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Group Learning and Placement | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
|
||||||||
| LECTURER/S | |||||||||
|
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
|||||||||