Department of Social Work
International Master of Science in Social Work
Parenting: The Challenging Task of Modern World
A Critical Review of COPE (Community Parent Education Program)
Strengths and Weaknesses of COPE from the Point of View of Parents and Educators
Degree report 15 higher education credits
Spring 2008
Author:
Sahar Kaleibari Notash
Supervisor:
Anita Kihlström
Abstract
COPE is one of the state-based public parent education programs carried on in Sweden with an
aim to prevent the behavioral problems of young children. This study is a qualitative research to
examine the strengths and weaknesses of COPE from the point of view of parents and educators.
The study has an intercultural perspective and intends to assess if the cognitive-behavioral
education can lead to the empowerment of parents. Semi-structured interviews are used to gather
information. Empowerment and Cognitive-behavioral theories are used to analyze the findings of
this study.
According to the findings, meeting other parents with the same problems and learning the
behavioral means to create the desired behavior and extinguish the undesired ones are the first
strong points of the program according to parents and educators. They also mentioned that
gaining self confidence, self control and anger control, as well as learning to behave rationally
and according to the correct models are the results of this education.
The most important barrier for the application of COPE is a cultural aspect. The Swedish society
is not comfortable with the usage of material means of encouragement and punishment according
to my informants. Low participation of parents both in the sessions and discussions is another
problem.
Individual empowerment both for parents and educators are achieved in COPE according to the
interviews. Parents reported being more secure and in control in relation to children after taking
part in COPE. Despite my earlier experiences of family education programs in Iran, reports about
social empowerment is lacking in the Swedish context. Meanwhile, parents and educators had
some suggestions to improve the program most importantly about social empowerment of
parents.
Key words: parent education, empowerment, parent views, educator views, cognitive-behavioral
education, COPE.
2
Acknowledgment
I would like to thank the Department of Social Work in Göteborg University
which prepared a rich ground for my study, and my supervisor Anita
Kihlström who helped me in this degree report. Also, I am grateful to the
kind cooperation of Astrid Tunås who helped me in gathering information
for this report. I would like to thank my dear friends Reyhaneh and Arezou
for their kind support and help. Finally, I thank all the informants who
participated in my interviews and expressed their views.
Sahar Kaleibari Notash
3
Contents
Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... 2
Acknowledgment ............................................................................................................................ 3
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 6
1.1. The research subject: COPE................................................................................................. 6
1.2 Problem Area and aim of the study ....................................................................................... 8
1.3. Research Questions. ............................................................................................................. 8
1.4 Definitions ............................................................................................................................ 8
2. COPE .......................................................................................................................................... 8
2.1 Background ........................................................................................................................... 8
2.2 The purpose of COPE ........................................................................................................... 9
2.3 How COPE is implemented ................................................................................................ 10
3. Earlier researches about behavioral parent educational programs ............................................ 12
3.1. Researches about the Behavioral Parent Education ........................................................... 12
3.2. Earlier Researches about empowerment of families .......................................................... 14
4. Theoretical framework .............................................................................................................. 16
4.1. Empowerment .................................................................................................................... 16
4.2. Cognitive-behavioral social work ...................................................................................... 18
5. Method ...................................................................................................................................... 20
5.1 Design.................................................................................................................................. 20
5.2 Data collection..................................................................................................................... 21
5.3 Data processing ................................................................................................................... 22
5.4. Validity, Reliability and Generalizability .......................................................................... 22
5.5. Ethical consideration. ......................................................................................................... 24
6. Results and Analysis ................................................................................................................. 24
6.1.Why parents need this program ........................................................................................... 25
6.2. Benefits and aims of the program: ..................................................................................... 26
6.3.Strengths of the program ..................................................................................................... 27
6.4. Weaknesses of the program................................................................................................ 28
6.5. Improvement of the program.............................................................................................. 29
6.6. Effects of cope on parents .................................................................................................. 31
6.7. Practical problems in implementation of program ............................................................. 32
6.8. Integration of the program to Swedish context .................................................................. 33
7. Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 34
References ..................................................................................................................................... 38
Appendixs ..................................................................................................................................... 41
1-Interview guide of “study of weakness and strength of COPE “ ........................................... 41
Educators’ version ................................................................................................................. 41
Parents’ version ..................................................................................................................... 42
4
2-Informed Consent................................................................................................................... 43
5
1. Introduction
1.1. The research subject: COPE
Social Work with children and families is a specialized area of work in Sweden. The state began
to have a stronger role in the family life by introducing new laws about children and women,
providing public childcare facilities and emphasizing on dual earner model during the last
century. Nuclear family is still the predominant form of family in Sweden, but there are many
indicators which show that the situation of the nuclear families is moving towards instability.
Facts like high divorce rate and reduction of fertility as well as introduction of other family
patterns are changing the family system in Sweden (Therborn, 2004).
There are several different reasons for the importance of family education in Sweden which
makes parent education one of the important areas of social work with families. One reason is
that for most people, parenting can be a challenging task of adulthood. They may face a difficult
situation in fulfilling this responsibility while this task is an opportunity for learning, growth, and
development of them (Marienau C. and Segal J., 2006). Secondly, providing secure and
favorable conditions during childhood and adolescence is one of the national public health
policies of Sweden. Lastly, mental ill-health is one of the three most important public health
issues in Sweden (Bremberg, S. 2003). General family education programs can prevent mental ill
health in children. A study done in Canada shows that a significant number of children with
behavior disorders do not get support. Ironically, children at greatest risk are more deprived from
professional support. This is because they come from the poor socioeconomic strata, and their
parents recognize their behavior problems late, and feel stigmatized if they seek assistance
(Cunningham, Bremner and, Boyle, 1995). A general family education can cover all social strata
including the neediest.
For children of families with disabilities, single parents, or those otherwise receiving long-term
social assistance there is a higher risk of unfavourable development in many aspects including
mental health. These parents might be at greater risk of early retirement for medical reasons or
hospital care for mental problems. According to the Swedish medical authorities single parents
with seriously impaired children are especially vulnerable when it comes to financial resources
and health (The National Board of Health and Welfare, 2006).
One of the prevalent mental health problems is BMP (Behavior Management Problems).
According to Axberg et al (2007), in Sweden BMP is common among children (4-12%). This
problem is increasing and in long-term will result in poor psychosocial adjustment. Barlow and
Stewart-Brown (2000) believes that behavior problems in children are an important social,
educational, and health issue. They mention that the prevalence of these problems, their stability
over time, their poor prognosis, and their costs to both individuals and the society, all point to the
need for primary prevention and early effective interventions.
6
As a result of mentioned reasons, the Swedish government decided to use the parental support
programs for prevention of mental illnesses based on the findings of one hundred different high
quality studies which proved the effectiveness of parent education. The parliament and
government provide facilities for family education to help with the prevention of mental illhealth by appropriate regulations (Bremberg, S., 2003).
Researching about the implemented programs and their effectiveness is one essential part of the
program in order to correct the directions, content and methods of education. A lot of studies are
done to assess the effect of the program on the behavior of the children and parents. It is also
important to study and research the views of the partners who are participating in the programs
and hear their voices and their assessments about their experience of participating in the
program. Since COPE is a new program in Sweden, there is no research about its
implementation. The only available sources are some reports of educators. So there is a need to
study the program in the Swedish society. Also there is little information about the views of
parents and educators about the program, and most of the researchers studied the effectiveness of
the program on child behavior and parent-child relation according to the positivist ideas of
reality. According to Gilbert(2003) individuals and groups construct their own version of reality.
Therefore I want to examine the experiences of parents and educators who are participating in
the program.
I have been engaged in family education in Iran for some years. Due to my previous studies in
early childhood education, and my working experience in this field, I was interested to observe a
similar program in Sweden. As an educator, back home, I observed that all kind of family
education has a great influence on parents, mostly mothers. They came to our center to know
about their children and how to treat them. As soon as they get education about the family
systems, child rights and other related subject, they start to seek their own rights. It seems parent
education is a little sparkle which helps them to go ahead. They initiate their own study groups
and try to help and support each other in a very patriarchal society. The knowledge and the skills
they learn give them power in the family. The social network they participate in, on the other
hand make the basis of their individual and social empowerment.
Also, my field placement period in the international master program gave me this opportunity to
be in contact with the families and the educators of COPE (Community Parent Education
Program). Social department office of Frölunda renders family education program since 2004. I
participated in the program and obtained the educational material during my field placement. I
decided to perform a study about COPE after being in contact with the families and the
educators. I was more convinced about the importance of this study because all the previous
studies were concentrated on the effectiveness of the program and views of the participants were
generally ignored. There was a need to study the program from the point of view of parents and
educators.
7
1.2 Problem Area and aim of the study
As mentioned the family education is a tool to enhance mental health. Many researchers studied
the effectiveness of these programs, and most of them concluded that these programs are highly
effective. There are a few researches about the point of view of parents and educators about the
content, method and aims of these programs. The subjective role of the participants is ignored in
the most of the studies. This research is going to achieve a deeper understanding about the
implementation of these cognitive- behavioral programs. In other words, this study wants to look
at the effectiveness of the program from the point of view of the practitioners and service users.
Every educational program has some weaknesses and strengths, whose recognition is a way to
enrich them and bring in new possibilities to educate target group better. In this research the
weaknesses and strengths of the program will be considered from the point of view of educators
and parents to achieve a thorough understanding of the program characteristics. Empowerment
theory will be used alongside the cognitive-behavioral theory to interpret the subjects’ ideas
about the program and to find a new definition of effectiveness of the program.
1.3. Research Questions.



What are the strengths of the COPE program from the point of view of the parents and
the educators?
What are the weaknesses of the COPE program from the point of view of the parents and
educators?
Can the behavioral education of COPE result in parents’ empowerment?
1.4 Definitions
The phrase "parent education program" is used here to refer to group-based programs with a
standardized format aimed at enhancing parenting skills (Barlow and Stewart-Brown, 2000).
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most recent diagnostic label for children
presenting with significant problems with attention, impulsiveness and over activity which is one
of the most prevalent childhood psychiatric disorders (Barkley, 1998).
2. COPE
2.1 Background
In Sweden, family education programs implemented by the government are known as
“Interaction programs”. They are the instruments of the government to support parents in two
main areas: providing emotional development and creating boundaries for their children. These
programs emphasize on collected experience of all the parents in the group. The programs are
divided according to different age groups. In the age group of 2-9 years, the goal of programs is
8
to reduce the risk of developing behavior problems. There are three main programs for this age
group (2-9): De otroliga åren [The Incredible Years], Community Parent Education Program
(COPE) and KOMET [COMET] (Bremberg, S., 2003). The programs include watching of
movies, discussing problems, providing solutions for them and practicing the solutions.
COPE (Community Parent Education Program) is a family education program which is designed
by Professor Charles E. Cunningham in McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences in
Canada. It is a large group version of individual family programs for families of children with
ADHA which later have been implemented in mental health clinics (Barkley, 1998, p. 396). The
program was introduced to Sweden as of year 2004 (Swedish COPE site).
In Sweden, COPE is implemented by National Institute of Public Health free of charge for all
parents of children between 3-12 years old. It has facilities for free child care during the sessions
of program. This program is implemented with some changes in content, order of the subjects
and movies, and is used as a general family education program in different cities and different
centers (National Institute of Public Health website). Most of the educators or leaders are social
workers, preschool or school teachers and are educated directly by Charles E. Cunningham, the
author of the program, or the private center of ‘Svenska COPE- Foreningen’ under the
supervision of Agneta Hellstrom.
2.2 The purpose of COPE
According to Barkley (1998), parents of children with ADHD suffer from low self-esteem, a
sense of lack of control over the child’s difficulties, and higher depression. Low regulated
behavior of their children causes more controlling and less positive approach to child
management. There are some groups pf parents for whom the rate of participation in intervention
programs is lower. Younger, economically disadvantaged, socially isolated, depressed,
immigrant parents, parents whom the official language of the country is their second language
and are culturally different are least likely to enroll in and complete intervention programs. The
same is true for parents of children with the most severe problems. On the other hand, studies
shows that these groups come to community-based parenting courses more regularly.
Barkley (1998) showed that parent training improves child management skills, enhances parental
confidence, reduces stress and improves family relationships. He believes that “Improving
parenting skills is accompanied with less behavioral difficulties of children” (p. 394). COPE
family education can be a good response to the needs of families who are in trouble or are at risk
to be in trouble because of ADHD of the children. Also, COPE teaches self-control strategies,
and the group provides a sense of universal parenting experiences with common problems. The
group encourages supportive contacts and exchange of knowledge between the parents (Barkley,
1998). These are achieved with a low cost, single-leader program which uses community
utilizations to help families.
9
When the parents find solutions by themselves in the groups, they show more commitment to the
findings. They feel they own the solutions and alternative suggestions. This fact reduces their
resistant for change, and helps them to implement the findings. Finding solutions is a life skill.
This practice helps them to find individual solutions for their own special situations in the future.
They also build skills for cooperative problem solving process (Barkley, 1998).
Providing group education for parents which are facing less severe problems gives more
opportunity to help children with more severe problems. The fact that their families use clinical
and professional help more frequently is a practical evidence for effectiveness of the program.
COPE is an educational program which is based on social learning-based parenting programs,
social-cognitive psychology, family systems theory, small-group interventions and largersupport-group models (Barkley, 1998). This is followed with a coping-modeling problemsolving approach.
According to Barkley(1998), leaders use modeling, role playing, goal setting, and self-monitored
homework strategies to introduce new skills. ‘Social-Cognitive psychology’ tries to use attitude
change models and it is assumed that optimal shifts in attitudes and behavior will be obtained
when parents devise their own solutions and rationales.
2.3 How COPE is implemented
In order to increase the chances of parents’ participation in COPE, the program has predicted the
possible causes for parents’ evasion from educational programs. According to Cunningham
(1998), some barriers which may stop parents to go to parent education programs are difficulties
for day-time attendance, extracurricular activities, travel time or transportation costs, and child
care problems. These problems are solved in COPE by different hours for course, using
neighborhood schools and facilities, free education and free child care facilities. The whole
average 25 member of the group will be divided to five to seven sub-groups who can work
together. Each group has a leader who is responsible for keeping members concentrated on tasks
and writes the discussion of group and shares them with the large group. Each member must take
the responsibilities of the leader in the subgroup.
To have a COPE education in an area these steps is followed:




Advertising in different places including schools, pre-schools and mental health clinics
Informing parents about the program and its goals; its format, benefits and advantages for
parents in an informative session
Parent training in a course which is included of 8-16 two hours weekly sessions
Follow up in monthly discussion for the parents educated in COPE
According to Cunningham (1998) and the leaders which I interviewed, the structure of each
session is as follows: The session starts with informal social activities including taking
10
sandwiches and coffee and talking to each other. Then leader outlines session plan by describing
what will be done during the session. Subgroups review homework to build self-efficacy and
focus on small gains which the results of revision will be presented in large-group. Then the new
subject will be presented to parents by watching the videotapes which simplifies complex
problems by a vignettes depicting, exaggerated version of common child management errors.
Parents in participant subgroups identify errors, discuss their consequences, develop alternative
strategies, and formulate supporting rationales instead of the problematic behavior. In the large
group proposed solutions are discussed by subgroups and leaders demonstrate the solutions by
modeling. Subgroups brainstorm about applications and make a list of the situations which the
strategies are applicable. Pairs of parents rehear strategies to strengthen skills, build confidence
and prepare for applying the strategies. Leaders plan homework and close the session.
The most important aims of the program are encouraging positive behavior and improving childparent relationship. Parents learn how to pay attention to the child in a positive way and to
identify and encourage or reinforce the child’s good behavior which can improve child’s
behavior and make the relationship of parent-child friendly and help to development of language,
conversational skills and social competence. Balancing family relationships is another aim
which is achieved by education of time management, allocation and attention between siblings,
spouse and self. Parents should learn to avoid conflicts by disengaging from escalating conflicts
and controlling thoughts which intensify anger.
Another aim is to help parents facilitate managing transitions. That is transition from nonobeying child to cooperative child by using when-then strategies which encourage compliance
via the application of the rewarding principles. In this line Point system is introduced in which
parents learn how to give points for god behavior and delete points for bad behavior. Collecting
of a certain number of points results in a reward. This can help to form a new behavior. Selfregulation strategies are improved by using planning ahead strategies in which parents identify
problematic situation and try to help child to develop a plan for that situation and negotiate
incentives. Parents should ignore minor errors, reward follow through and review the plans as
necessary. Parents are educated to deal with more serious problems by showing some effective
responses to aggressive behavior. This can be time-out from positive reinforcement. This
includes firm emotionally neutral commands, a quick neutral warning and application of an
effective consequence.
Finally, problem-solving is educated using PASTE strategy which implies picking one soluble
problem, analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of alternative solutions, selecting the most
promising alternative, trying it out and evaluating outcomes.
This is a summary of the COPE program which is outlined by Cunningham and is copied,
translated and adjusted to the Swedish needs and was implemented during my observation
period.
11
3. Earlier researches about behavioral parent educational
programs
With the help of librarians in the Gothenburg University’s library and Research Methods course I
started my research by searching the recourses in the university library. I started by searching
library catalogues like Gunda and Libris and search the following databases: Illumina; Science
Direct and Eric. I tried to find books and essays in journals according the following keywords:
Family education, parent education, behavioral education, empowerment, Cope, family social
work, Swedish social work, family in Sweden, cognitive-behavioral theory, ADHD, Family
Empowerment. Also I used Google advanced search to find some information about Dr
Cunningham’s works and researches. I found some research according to the keywords but none
of them had both aspects of BPT and empowerment of families. Therefore I selected some of the
more relevant works from each aspect.
Most of the researches which are related to the subject of parent education use quantitative
methods to study the effectiveness of program on the behavior of parents or children. I did not
find qualitative research, studying behavioral parent education (BPT). But there are some works
about the empowerment of families and the mental health of their children. I mentioned first the
BPT researches and then empowerment researches according to the date from recent to later
researches.
3.1. Researches about the Behavioral Parent Education
One of the aims of the study of Axberg, U. (2007) is to evaluate the effectiveness of the parent
training program “Incredible Years Series” (IYS) in diverse clinical settings in Sweden. The
parents answered various questionnaires before and after participating in the parent-training
groups. The results show significant reduction of BMP in the children on all relevant measures.
A significant increase in the self-rated well-being of the mothers was also found.
Hoofdakker, B.J. et al (2007) investigated the effectiveness of behavioral parent training (BPT)
as adjunct to routine clinical care (RCC). They compared a group of 5 months RCC with other
group which had 5 months RCC plus 12 educational sessions in group format. Results show that
adjunctive BPT enhances the effectiveness of routine treatment of children with ADHD,
particularly in decreasing behavioral and internalizing problems, but not in reducing ADHD
symptoms or parenting stress.
Reyno, S. M. and McGrath, P. J. examined the parent training literature to distinguish the child,
parent, and family factors which can predict the effectiveness of parent education in child
behavioral problems. This literature review included from 1980 to 2004 the studies which were
about the prevention and treatment of child behavioral problems. Socioeconomic status and
maternal mental health are particularly important factors.
12
Corkum, Penny V. et al (2005) evaluated a 10-week behavior training program for parents of
children with ADHD and also examined whether the inclusion of an intervention provided to
children's classroom teachers would result in additional behavioral benefits. Two groups are
compared: parent training and parent plus teacher training groups. Results indicate that the
program is effective in improving of home behavior of children. Also, greater reduction in
children's ADHD symptoms was observed in the second group which shows the importance of
teacher education alongside of parent training programs.
Rooke et al (2004) mentioned that many parents of children with conduct problems do not seek
professional help. In this research, they studied the relevance of the beliefs of parents about the
problem behavior and their attendance in parent education programs. The parents who showed a
stronger believe in potential change, and the effect of child’s behavior on parents’ behavior,
attended more often. These findings shows the importance of routine open access group parent
training offered at schools so that parents feel less stigmatized, and the turnouts would increase.
Bunting (2004) studied a number of systematic reviews of parenting programs effectiveness that
summaries the impact of these programs on a range of parental and child outcomes. The findings
show that parenting programs can have a positive impact on a range of outcomes, including
improved child behavior, increased maternal self-esteem and relationship adjustment, improved
mother- child interaction and knowledge and decreased maternal depression and stress. These
positive results are maintained over time, with group-based, behaviorally orientated programs.
But high drop-out rates may show the limited effectiveness for a minority of parents.
Andrea M. Chronis et al (2004) reviewed the parameters of BPT including, parent factors, and
child factors that may contribute to treatment outcomes for families of children with ADHD.
Different longitudinal studies show that BPT has improved both child ADHD behavior and
maladaptive parenting behavior. Also there are other improvements like reducing parenting
stress and child classroom behavior. Group-based interventions which are more cost-effective,
efficient, may be less stigmatizing for some families. Also, researchers emphasis on importance
of videotaped modeling and coping modeling problem solving techniques in BPT skills
education. Community based programs which are more accessible for low-SES families and
those from diverse backgrounds are recommended. Also, parents of children with ADHD may
need parent focused interventions like parental psychopathology, marital problems, father
involvement, and issues relevant for single parents and parents from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The study of Hartman et al (2003) showed that all of the families don’t benefit from PBT
programs and one third of children need clinical help after the intervention. Mothers of boys,
exhibiting conduct problems attended a parent training program (The Incredible Years).
Treatment effectiveness was assessed. Results indicated significant decreases in mothers'
negative parenting interactions with their children and in children’s conduct problems. Boys with
elevated ratings of attention problems showed similar benefits from the parent training program.
13
A systematic review by Barlow and Stewart-Brown (2000) examined the effectiveness of group
parent education programs that aimed to improve behavior problems in children. Critical
appraisal of these studies revealed considerable heterogeneity in the interventions, the
populations studied, and the outcome measures used. Nevertheless, these studies suggest that
structured parent education programs can be effective in producing positive change in both
parental perceptions and objective measures of children's behavior and that these changes are
maintained over time.
Cunningham et al (1995) compared a large group community-based parent training program to a
clinic-based individual parent training (FT) program. All families of junior kindergartners with
above the 90th percentile reported behavioral problems randomly assigned to: (1) a 12–week
clinic-based individual parent training (Clinic/Individual), (2) a 12–week community-based large
group parent training (Community/Group), or (3) a waiting list control condition. Immigrant
families, those using English as a second language and parents of children with severe behavior
problems were significantly more likely to enroll in Community/Groups than Clinic/Individual
FT. Parents in Community/Groups reported greater improvements in behavior problems at home
and better maintenance of these gains at 6-month follow-up. A cost analysis showed that, with
groups of 18 families, Community/Groups are more than six times as cost effective as
Clinic/Individual programs.
With a look to these researches, I conclude that the BPT is effective for the improvement of the
behavioral problems in children and behavior of their parents. Also, it is helpful for improvement
of mental situation of parents and children. Group based interventions have better results than
individual methods generally and are most cost effective. They attract disadvantaged and
marginalized families.
3.2. Earlier Researches about empowerment of families
In their article Parents as developing adult learner, Marienau and Segal (2006) presented that
parents as continuous learners whose critical reflections on their experiences with parenting can
be a rich fodder for their growth and development. Theories and models are highlighted that may
suggest a wider repertoire of approaches for helping professionals who are facilitating parents in
their learning and growth.
Johnson et al (2003) explored the extent to which a national random sample of National Assoc of
Social Workers members holds beliefs and attitudes congruent with the parent empowerment
perspective. Two profiles emerged from the data. Respondents who disagree with statements
attributing blame to parents agree with sharing information openly with parents; believe that
parents are doing their best, are credible reporters, and are experts about their own children;
agree that workers need research knowledge; and disagree that the child is usually the identified
patient in a dysfunctional family. In contrast, respondents who believe parents cause their
14
children's emotional and behavioral problems disagree with open information sharing; disagree
that parents are doing their best or are experts about their own children; agree that the child is an
identified patient in a dysfunctional family; and agree that parents' ideas are important mostly to
give the worker clues about family dynamics.
Taub, Tighe, and Burchard (2001) examined the relations between family empowerment,
children's mental health, and longitudinal changes in family empowerment. Family
empowerment increased significantly over time while a child was receiving mental health
services. There was also a trend for an increase in parent-reported community empowerment.
Parents' reports of children's adjustment were found to correlate significantly with both family
and service system empowerment at follow-up. Change in family empowerment over time was
found to be a significant predictor of change in children's externalizing problems while in
services.
Canning and Fantuzzo (2000) mentioned that a brief empowered parent education strategy was
developed and evaluated on African American parents who participated in Head Start (a family
support program implemented in US). This was compared with a conventional parent education
approach. Parents who participated in this unique approach to parent education critisized the
content and process of a conventional parent education strategy and collaborated with
professionals to design and conduct their own culturally relevant parent workshop. Engagement
for parents who participated in the empowered strategy was significantly greater than parents
who participated in the conventional one. Content was judged as more relevant and presenter
behavior was judged as more respectful than in the conventional approach. Ninety percent of
participants queried preferred empowered parent education when asked which workshop they
would attend if given the choice.
Bickman et al (1998), in Vanderbilt Caregiver Empowerment Project evaluated a training
program designed to enhance empowerment of caregiver and their subsequent involvement in the
mental health treatment of their children. The resulting increased empowerment was
hypothesized to increase caretaker involvement, which should affect service use and ultimately
the mental health status of the child. The initial training continued to significantly influence the
parent's knowledge and mental health services self-efficacy.
Scheel and Rieckmann (1998) mentioned that parents of clinic-referred preschool children are
particularly vulnerable to less self-efficacious judgments of their ability to effectively parent
their child. It is vital that these parents demonstrate empowerment through proactive
involvement in treatment. Parent internal perceptions of stress, family functioning, stress due to
child condition, and extra familial influences were considered in separate predictive models of
parent self-efficacy and parent empowerment. Stepwise regression revealed parent stress and
family functioning as significant predictors of parent self-efficacy, while a broader range of
variables that also included parent employment and education constituted the parent
15
empowerment model. These findings support a multiple-level perspective of empowerment that
includes self-efficacy.
Vincent (1996) examined contrasting perspectives to the 'empowerment' of parents, which have
informed developments at a national and local level. The first approach is exemplified by social
democratic initiatives which define 'empowerment' as a strengthening of the role of parent-ascitizen, through mechanisms designed to encourage the closer involvement of parents in the
planning and delivery of local education services. The second definition of empowerment is
contained within the Conservative Party's emphasis on promoting the role of the parent-asconsumer, especially through policies claiming to enhance parental choice of school. A third
approach, supported by the 'new centrists', emphasizes the responsibility of the individual to
empower him/herself, by taking advantage of opportunities to participate. Discourses around
'empowerment' are understood by differently situated groups and individuals.
4. Theoretical framework
To analyze my results I used two different theories: Empowerment and Cognitive- behavioral
theory. The empowerment theory is applied for two different reasons which will be explained
bellow. The cognitive-behavioral theory is used because COPE program is based on it.
As mentioned in the earlier research part parents of children with behavioral problems are not
only isolated and marginalized but also feel guilty and blame themselves continually because of
the problems of their children. This situation makes them feel powerless. I used empowerment
theory to assess effectiveness of the PBT programs to empower parents.
On the other COPE is based on Cognitive-behavioral theory. The aim of behavioral education is
to change from undesired behavior to desired behavior. Empowerment also seeks change of the
views about the problems and their roots. By ‘conscious-raising’, empowerment tries to change
the understanding of social context of the problems and developing ways of addressing them. It
helps people to avoid self-blaming and accept personal responsibilities to achieve change and
work on their effectiveness to make change (Payne, 2005). In particular, I would like to examine
if the behavioral programs can lead to empowerment of the parents. That is if the behavior
change can lead into changing of views and feeling empowered in child-raising.
4.1. Empowerment
Although empowerment came late to social work literature but has achieved prominence in
social work. Some social workers think empowerment is the keystone of social work and is the
fundamental part of it. The empowerment can be used in several ranges of activities from
consulting to involvement in service planning. The purpose of empowerment is to help people
resist in front of labeling process which wants to put them down, marginalize and dismiss them
(Adams, 2003). It helps people gain collective control to manage their lives to achieve the power
16
of decision and action to get their own goals, influence policies, get a subjective role instead of
being object of intervention of society (Payne,2005).
Empowerment is based on self-directed group-work in an educational process (Adams,
2003).Empowerment help people feel self-worthier by reducing their isolation and connecting
them to social relations. It tries to improve self-concept and self-confidence. By sharing
experience of stigmatization in collective networks, people can move from dependence to
interdependence (Payne, 2005). COPE program tries to improve self confidence in parents by
encouraging them to share their problems and find solutions in a peer group.
Empowerment seeks different things for different people. It is searching social justice by
bringing equality through equal social right for allocating of resources (Adams, 2003). COPE
also, tries to share the resources of society among all people and give them equal opportunities to
gain their different needs during a collective action.
There are different interrelated domains of empowerment which can cover different areas of life.
Empowerment includes self, individual, group, organization and community domains. Self,
individual and group empowerment which are related to this research will be explained.
The empowered person is more motivated and able to empower other people. So, before
empowering other people, social workers need to consider their thoughts, feelings and situation
and empower themselves. They need to develop a democratic way of working towards the goal
of self-empowerment and empowerment of service-users. For service users, empowerment is to
overcome their disempowerment and gain more control over their lives (Adams, 2003).
Empowering individuals is an essential prerequisite for group empowerment. Individual
empowerment makes clients more self-directive and assertive, creates positive attitudes toward
working with others. Dialogue is center of work and is linked to education and criticality.
Without dialogue there is no communication, and without communication there can be no true education.
Again, true dialogue cannot exist unless it involves critical thinking.
(Adams, 2003, p. 66)
Similarly, COPE uses dialogue as a central part of its work. Subgroups discuss subjects and
present it in the main group. Dialogue takes place among individuals, in small groups, in the big
group, among leaders, and between leaders and the group members.
Most of the empowerment is done in group work because of its democratic, participative and
humanistic values (Payne, 2005). Adams (2003) believes groups can provide support, reduce the
risk of isolation, offer a context in which personal skills can be developed and practiced.
Characteristics of group empowerment are: equality of members, independent decision-making,
common problems, confidentiality, free participation, voluntary activity, mutual help and
17
support, sharing the roles of helper and helped, and sharing common experiences (Adams, 2003).
The same regulations of group work govern COPE program.
As a result of all of the similarities in content and process of COPE and empowerment, I will
analyze my findings in the light of empowerment theory in order to assess how much COPE can
contribute in empowering parents.
4.2. Cognitive-behavioral social work
Cognitive-behavioral theories are two separate but related groups of ideas. Their origins are
psychological learning and psychological theories of perception and information-processing.
Behaviorists think that the only thing that we can study is the behavior. Therefore, the only thing
we can change is behavior, if it makes trouble for person. Behavioral work by using a linear
model of explanation of behavior (one thing leads to another thing) focuses on specific
behaviors. It relies on behavioral principles and learning theory and its intervention is based on
research evidenced of effectiveness. Workers help clients to use changed behaviors in many
situations and generalize the desired behavior (Payne, 2005).
As Payne (2005) stated the main aim of behavioral social work is increasing desired behaviors
and reducing undesired behavior. Some social workers work with the parents of children who
have behavior problems. They teach them being consistent and use social skills approach to
educate parents. What they learn can be practiced at home. Rewarding is taught alongside time
out, fines and penalties. There are practice and homework which will be reviewed in next
sessions. Both the process of education and what is educated use cognitive- behavioral rules.
COPE is designed to change undesired behavior of children to the desired behavior by changing
behavior of parents. It is an educational program to teach parents how they can change their
children’s behavior by using encouragement and punishment. Base of work is cognitivebehavioral theory.
Cognitive-behavioral methods are therapeutic procedures which focus on changing thoughts
and feelings alongside, instead of or as a precursor to, changing behaviors.
(Payne, 2005, p.122)
This kind of social work uses psychological change of individuals instead of social changes and
emphasis on scientific methods .This branch of social work has a limited use and is specially
used in some special psychological problems like school phobia, childhood problems and in
psychiatric settings, particularly, in the case of cognitive methods, with mild anxiety and
depression. These approaches can be used successfully in group work where people have
common problems or backgrounds (Payne, 2005).
18
Some of the important ideas underlying behavioral work which are applicable in COPE are
explained below:
Operant conditioning is one of the concepts used in this program. Social workers try to control
the contingencies which influence behavior and consequence by positive or negative
reinforcement and punishment. Encouraging (positive reinforcement) of useful behavior makes
the process easier.
Another concept is assertiveness training. It is one of the treating techniques used for lack of
confidence. People can practice desired behavior in a safe and supportive situation, so they can
use it in the real life.
Cognitive factors such as disorders of perception or attribution (the meaning attached to events
and experiences) are the focus of attention in behavioral work. Since the behavior is under the
influence of perception or interpretation of the events, undesired behavior is related to
misunderstanding. Therefore cognitive work tries to correct the perceptions and interpretation.
The other concept is social learning and modeling. In social learning, social worker focuses on
the social situation which can help to learn desired behavior. Modeling is the main idea which
people learn especially from the successful behaviors of other people.
Most people do not learn by reading books or being told what to do; getting a demonstration of what to
do, experimenting while in a supportive environment and getting feedback and encouragement are
important.
(Payne, 2005, p.125).
According to Payne (2005), the following steps are taken in social skills training programs:






Specify problems where there are gaps in existent behavior and the desired one
Divide the problems into small stages
Cognitive work to identify the misunderstandings
Demonstration of the desired behavior and practicing it
Connecting changed behaviors together to make more complex ones
Teaching the application of the learned behavior
As mentioned during the description of COPE program in second part, the same procedure is
applied in COPE.
19
5. Method
5.1 Design
According to Gilbert (2003) classification this research is a policy-oriented applied research. It is
an evaluation research which is focused on collecting data to study the effects of some form of
planned change. The primary aim of evaluation research is to determine if a particular policy or
intervention is working and the purpose of this kind of research is enlightenment.
This research is directed in a qualitative method to grasp the views of the participants of program
and approach to their point of view and interpretation of the reality of the program.
According to Adams (2003), service users’ views and experiences are dismally underrepresented in research, theorizing and practice-based material. Thus, their views beside the
educators' views are used to evaluate the program. Therefore, I decided to use interviews as the
main method of data collection in order to access to service users views.
As May (2001) stated interviews yield rich insights into people’s biographies, experiences,
opinions, values, aspirations, attitudes and feelings. Kvale (1996) defines interview as a
conversation which has a structure and a purpose, which is to obtain descriptions of the life
world of the interviewee with respect to interpreting the meaning of the described phenomena.
Therefore interview is used as a method of data collection in order to include attitudes of
educators and parents.
I decided to use semi-structured interview because this method uses techniques from both
focused and structured of interview. The interviewer asks specified questions but also is free to
probe beyond the answers. The interviewer can record qualitative information about the topic
and this enables the interviewer to inter into dialogue with interviewee (May, 2001).
A semi-structured interview was used to collect data. Besides the questions of interview guide,
follow up questions used to clarify especially the influence of empowerment theory on the
weaknesses and strengths of the program. Three kind of questions (what, why and how) are
answered by the interviewees about the program.
5.1.1 Preparing for Interviews
In performing the interviews I was interested about the following questions:






What are the aims of the program?
Who can participate in the program?
What are the content and the method of the work?
What evaluation systems are used?
Number, gender and nationality of clients
Duration and the process of each session
20
These questions were formed in my mind after I observed the reporting process made by the
Health Manger of Frölunda district to political members of the district council about the
implementation of COPE. To have more background about the program, I studied further
information about the program in the study plans made by educators. The questions of interview
guide were prepared according to the views of parents and educators which I collected from the
evaluation papers which are regularly filled by participants after each period, observations and
the views of educators. The interview guide is available in appendix. The questions are based
three main parts: advantages, weaknesses and the ways to improve COPE.
Later I participated in four educational sessions in order to get familiar with the context of the
program. This helped me to get to know the participants. I could contact some of them later and
ask them to participate in research.
To get a deep understanding of the advantages and difficulties of the program I needed to be
familiar with the views of both parents and educators about the program. Along with the
informal meetings with the educators, four set of evaluation papers of the previous COPE
programs were gathered and translated by two educators.
5.2 Data collection
I performed semi-structured interviews with four people (two parents and two educators) in
English.
The sample is a non-probable sample with volunteer interviewees. In most of the cases
researchers redefine their qualitative study population to conform to the available lists. When the
goal of a research is to understand the social processes, the researcher uses purposive or nonprobability sampling. In this method the chance of selection for each element in a population is
unknown and for some elements is zero (May, 2001).
I invited all the participants in different groups to take part in the interviews for this study. Five
people volunteered to participate in this study. Three female educators in two different center of
Frölunda district and two mothers from two different groups in one center were volunteered to
participate in the research. I had met them during the observation phase. Five interviews were
planned, according to the number of volunteers. One interview was canceled by one of the
educators because of the difficulties of language and no more people were found to replace. One
of the mothers had a non-Swedish background but has been grown up in Sweden. The rest of the
interviewees were native Swedes.
The interviews were conducted in English because I did not speak Swedish. This proved to be a
constraint to the study because many parents were not comfortable to participate in the study due
to the language limitations. Only the people who were able to speak in English volunteered to
participate in the interviews. Nevertheless, some of them had problems in expressing themselves
21
in English. In one case the interviewee used Swedish language to answer to two questions which
are translated by someone else for the researcher with the permission of the interviewee.
Therefore, I believe the language barrier did not affect the research in general.
The interviews were conducted and recorded in a calm place. One of the educators was
interviewed in her office in preschool and the other in the group study room in the social work
department in the Göteborg University. The parents preferred their houses for the interviews
because they have young children.
In interview sessions, I first thanked the interviewees for their participation. Then I informed
them about their rights, and I told them they could ask me about the research after the interview.
The interviews were done according to the interview guide and took at least 40 minutes and
maximum around 75 minutes.
Two interviews were stopped several times because of the needs of the children who were
present at the interview place. The children made sound and wanted their parents’ attention.
Therefore the parents were not fully concentrated.
5.3 Data processing
All interviews were recorded. Transcriptions were prepared according to the recorded speech.
They included the whole conversations. I sent them later to the interviewees and asked them to
read the text and inform me if they found some mistakes or wanted to withdraw their interviews.
But they did not ask me to cut any part of the interview.
The categorization method was used to analyze the interviews. The transcriptions were
categorized according to different themes in the interviews in order to facilitate the analysis of
the interviews. The categorization method is used to analyze the experience that is shared by a
group of people and compare all references to the selected phenomenon in one interview or
across several interviews (Gilbert, 2008).
The categorization is done according to the themes of the interview guide. The followings
themes are discussed: Why parents need this program, Aims and benefits of program, the
weakness and strengths of it, proposals to improve the program, effects of COPE, problems of
leaders, problems of application, integrability of the program to the Swedish culture
The interviews were analyzed according to the empowerment theory, cognitive-behavioral
theory and research questions.
5.4. Validity, Reliability and Generalizability
Social sciences use reliability, validity and generalizability for verifying of knowledge. Against
positivist view which tries to generalize the laws of behavior, a contrasting humanistic view
22
assumes that situations are unique and each phenomenon has its own intrinsic structure and logic
(Kvale, 1996). Therefore, the emphasis in this view is on the heterogeneity and conceptuality of
knowledge, with a shift from generalization to contextualization.
Analytical generalization is a logical conclusion in which the researcher indicates why
(according to similarities and differences and using theory based logical statements) one finding
can be used in another situation. In other word, it must be cleared in the process of generalization
what is, what may be and what could be in a situation (Kvale, 1996). The interviews and
observations were used to answer the question what is, and I used empowerment theory and the
results to get a logical statement to predict what may be and what could be in next parent
education programs.
My sample was somehow biased especially about parents because they were volunteered from
people who were interested and were able to speak English. Therefore, they might be more
educated and self-confident. It is the same about educators. Also, they accept to have an
interview with a non-Swedish student which may show some especial political or social interests.
Therefore they might not be a representative sample of the population in question.
Reliability means the consistency of the research findings. Validity, which is the degree that a
method investigates what it is intended to investigate, is changed from a product investigation to
the quality control process during the knowledge construction. By emphasizing on pragmatic
truth, validity determination in this view seeks for abstractions from a unity, where a
comprehensive verification of qualitative research findings will involve observation,
conversation and interaction (Kvale, 1996).
As a result of my professional background as a family educator in Iran, I was much dedicated to
empowerment theory as a meaningful and necessary tool for family education. I was much
interested to assess if the collective family education programs lead to empowerment of parents
in Sweden. Therefore, during my interviews, I focused on questions directed to feeling more
powerful and getting support from the group. Thus, some of my follow up questions might be
somehow leading in this context. In the same way, the transcription of the tape records might be
influenced by my personal interests and attitudes when the voice was not clear.
The program is new. Therefore, according to educators, they are not so skillful and practiced
about the program to see the weaknesses and the strengths of it. They think they need more time
to understand the weaknesses and strengths of the program. It can limit the validity of the
research. Also, the language is an important issue. Since it is not the language which researcher
and interviewees speak conveniently some meanings might be missed by both partners.
Since I tried to make rapport with the interviewees to encourage them to participate, it is possible
that they answered the questions according to what they assumed about my interests and hide
some parts of their beliefs.
23
5.5. Ethical consideration.
According to Kvale (1996) the ethical issues should be considered in seven stages of the research
which will be discussed below.
I ensured that the aim of research is not against the society or some groups of it. Since the results
can help the improvement of the program, the purpose of the research is in the behalf of the
service users and educators.
The voluntariness of participation in the research was ensued. All of the interviewees were
volunteers. They were informed about the purpose of the research and they could ask about the
research in the end of interview. Moreover, they were informed that they can refuse to answer a
question if they didn’t want, and they could withdraw their statements in the later stage if they
choose to. They were advised that if there is a part or some special points in the interview that
they don’t want be mentioned they can inform the researcher. The transcriptions of the
interviews were sent to the interviewees later.
The confidentiality of the information was also guaranteed by the researcher. Nobody would
have access to their personal information. Only the researcher and supervisor and examiner will
have access to the tape records and transcriptions. The personal information that may result in
their recognition will be eliminated.
To prevent a stressful situation it was mentioned that language problems are common between
the interviewee and interviewer. Therefore, they could feel comfortable for thinking about the
wording and structuring of the sentences during the interview. The statements of the interviewees
were clarified by follow up questions during the interviews to avoid the wrong interpretations.
The interviews were conducted without any stranger. The researcher did not enter in the subjects
which interviewees avoided them obviously. Nevertheless, the interviewees seemed stressed
because they were not accustomed to speaking English. Also, those whose young children were
present during the interview were more uncomfortable.
The analysis is done according to the interviews and theoretical framework. Since the results are
not against the interests of special group or person, they can be published. After the completion
of grade report, the thesis will be sent to all participants.
6. Results and Analysis
In this part, first the results of interviews will be presented using categorization approach as a
qualitative method. Then the results will be discussed according to the theoretical frameworks.
The categorization is according to the themes of the interview guide. The followings themes are
discussed: Why parents need this program, Aims and benefits of program, the weakness and
24
strengths of it, proposals to improve the program, effects of COPE, problems of leaders,
problems of application, integrability of the program to the Swedish culture. I will describe the
results for each theme in the following.
6.1.Why parents need this program
Parents participated in the program because of the following reasons. They heard about the
parent education programs from friends. Besides they felt that they have not enough parenting
experiences and skills. They felt a need for getting advice and meeting other parents. One of
them felt more need for communication with other parents because she is a single mother.
Educators mentioned another set of the reasons which is categorized in four sections. The first
category is behavioral problems of children. They think parents participate in programs because
children disobey them and always argue. They think parents don’t have good relationship with
their children.
That the child doesn’t listen to them and the parents feel that they are just screaming and
arguing don’t have a nice relationship with the child. (Educator 1)
The second category is socio-economical situation of the parents. They stated that most of the
time both parents work excessive and are in a stressful economical situation. As a result, they
feel guilty that they don’t have enough time for their children and want to be nice with them.
They think if they don’t put limitation for children they will compensate for their absence .In this
category also we see single parents which are alone and are not able to do their parental
responsibilities.
Because I am a single parent and I don’t have anybody to ask for advice I have only rely on myself when
there is tow parents you can communicate and come up with the solutions and see the problems easier so
for me that is the most being single makes it hard. So that is why I choose to go to COPE. (Parent 1)
There is a cultural aspect for this issue in Sweden as mentioned by the educators. Parents think if
they put limitation or are strict with their children other people will think they are not good
parent so they feel uncomfortable to do their parental responsibilities. They participate in
educational program to overcome this problem.
The last point as mentioned by educators is the lack of parenting skills. They don’t know the best
way for putting limitations and giving consequences for bad behavior of their children. The
educators stated that the parents are unable to spend a meaningful time with their children in a
structured way. It means that even if they find a time to spend with their children, they don’t
know how to plan it so that they can construct a good relationship with their children. One
educator mentioned that parents give extra importance for domestic works like cleaning and
tidying up and can’t dedicate enough time to their children. Besides, the parents don’t know what
is the definition and responsibilities of a good parent.
25
As we can see there are different reasons which attract parents to the program. Some of them can
be answered by a behavioral program. They gain skills and tolls to overcome in a difficult
situation. On the other hand they empower themselves by meeting the peers and sharing the
problem. Problems can be social, economical, cultural, or problems relating to their parenting
skills.
6.2. Benefits and aims of the program:
Parents mentioned several benefits which they gained during the implementation of COPE.
These benefits can be categorized into three parts. The first category includes the advantages
which are usually aimed by the most of the parent educational programs. In this category parents
stated that COPE reminded them the essential rules of parenting and taught them to be patient. It
helped them to see the situations with different eyes and don’t get confused by different
parenting theories. They mentioned that the teachers gave them useful advices.
The second group is the benefits which is obviously related to the cognitive behavioral theory
and shows how they learned from a behavioral program. In this category, they mentioned that
COPE gave them an organized way of thinking about parenting and improved their strategies for
reinforcement and problem solving strategies. It helped them to learn to react in the problematic
situation rationally instead of emotionally.
You don’t react with your brain you react with your feelings. You need to be reminded all the
time about all the things. (Parent 2)
They think they found a path to follow in parenting and learned how to teach children the rules
of prioritizing most important tasks. They learned how to apply different disciplinary methods in
different situations. As a last point, they stated that they gained more confidence to be more firm
and apply rules.
The third category is the benefits which can be related to self and individual empowerment.
Parents stated that COPE helped them to gain strengths in parental role and feel more secure. It
helped them to hear the views and experiences of the other parents. This resulted in a shared
experience for them, not to feel alone and feel in the same boat with other parents.
‘I got to meet the parents and I got to be a part of their stories’. (parent 1)
It seems that they improved self confidence and self control and improved parenting styles in
the different type of dialogues.
Educators gave similar answers to the question of what are the aims of the COPE. Their answers
also are categorized in three main parts. As a usual result of parent education they stated that
COPE can help parents to be happy. They can enjoy shared time with children without conflicts
and anger. They can meet other parents and give good tips for parenting to each other.
26
They mentioned that parents can learn the parenting skills together which is obviously related to
social learning theory. Also, they stated that parents can find new ways to distinguish and solve
problems.
Some of the aims of COPE related to empowerment theory according o the educators are the
following. COPE helps parents not to feel alone and teach them to support each other. It makes
them stronger parents and improves their self confidence and self control. They can feel more
powerful through making their own community and controlling the undesirable situation.
In short, we can see that parents and educators share the understanding about the purposes of the
program. It shows that the program is well-implemented according to the predefined aims. The
statements of the parents implicate that they feel more individually empowered. As a result of the
education of behavioral tools they gained more control on themselves and their situations. They
feel that they are not alone and their situation is not a unique one.
6.3.Strengths of the program
The most important strength point of the program as mentioned by parents is what they learn in
the first session. They learn how to pay attention to their children and encourage them. The
other important part of the program is planning ahead which helps them learn how to plan their
activities and how to help children understand and cooperate with them. Parents mentioned that
it is easy for them to learn and apply the planning. The other point which parents think is a new
idea and helps them a lot is ignoring bad behavior.
Also educators believe that the most important part of the program is to learn how to pay
attention to children and encourage them. The strategies for ignoring bad behavior come later.
They think if parents learn the when-and-then strategies, which help them to plan a prioritized
plan for children, they will have fewer conflicts with their children. Also, they will be able to use
their time in a useful way. Educators mentioned that improving self control of children can help
parents be calmer and teach their children to be independent. Educators think that the program
tries to encourage parents in several ways: positive feedback of the educators or peers, as well as
the reinforcing results they gain after changing their own behavior with children. This improves
the self images of the parents that is parents gain better images of their own parenting skills
which encourages them into acting even better. They have a feeling of mutual gain and give.
During the group interactions since they think they bring something into the group, it is easier for
them to accept the conclusions in the group.
The other advantage of the program as put forth by educators is giving rational thinking abilities
in the parenting issues. They learn to think about their own behavior and its consequences. Also,
parents can adjust the program according to their needs.
27
It can be concluded that parents mentioned cognitive-behavioral aspects of the program as
strengthens of it. They have mentioned several points about the behavior control strategies.
Educators also put the cognitive benefits of the program in first place. They mentioned that the
behavioral education and behavioral methods improve the behavior of parents beside the
behavior of the children. Also they have mentioned some points which can be related to
empowerment theory. The benefits of group work and mutual aid of parents can lead to
individual empowerment.
6.4. Weaknesses of the program
The first point which is mentioned by parents relates to the novelty of the program. Since the
program is newly introduced, they did not reflect about the weaknesses of the program. One of
the parents was not satisfied with the level of interactions within the group.
I would probably get more if we had longer opportunities and more opportunities to interact
with each other. (Parent1)
The other weakness which is mentioned by parents is related to the applying of the method. They
mentioned that they had difficulties in understanding the exercises. Also, the amount of practice
before moving to the next skill is not enough. Homework is difficult to understand and apply and
there is a need for more examples. Some believe that strategies in cope are applicable for older
children with more communicative abilities. One of the parents stated that it is difficult for her to
change her behavior to apply the methods. She thinks that parents need more self control skills.
As mentioned by one of the educators before, punishment is viewed very negatively in Swedish
culture. One parent confirmed it by stating that she disapproves the usage of punishment in any
form for example time out. She stated that instead of punishing she prefers to model the desired
behavior in a way her child can learn it. It seems some behavioral methods which are not
favorable in Swedish culture can be replaced by other behavioral methods which are gentler and
are acceptable culturally.
The other weakness refers to the educational material. One of the mothers think that the nature of
videos is theatrical which did not show a real situation of parent-child interaction and focuses on
parents’ bad behavior. She thinks the bad behavior of children is missed in these videos. As a
result parents can’t recognize it and relate it to their life situation. One of the blames themselves
when she said:
We are the weaknesses. The course itself is very good and the methods are very good but putting
them into practice means different thing for each parent and each family.(Parent1)
Educators also mentioned some weaknesses which can be categorized to different groups. The
first is the applicability of the program. They think that it takes time for parents to feel
comfortable in group and to open up. In first sessions they are shy to participate in discussions.
28
Some educational tools like brainstorming and role play are difficult for parents. Educators think
if the parent’s discussions don’t go in the right direction the group will miss the educational
goals. Also, some methods are very difficult to be applied by parents. Planning a head and
problem solving between the parents are the most difficult parts. The last point about the
application of program is that some of the homework are not clear for parents and they had to
explain it for parents several times.
Educators also confirmed that parents prefer not to use punishment as a disciplinary tool. They
mentioned that parents don’t like time-out and parents are concerned about the usage of giving
the consequences. It is not clear if parents use punishment as a parental tool later in their normal
life.
The other weakness from the point of view of educators is that parents don’t have much
information about COPE and thus the rate of participation is low. Sometimes there are not
enough parents to have a complete group.
The last weakness mentioned by educators is about the educational material. They also,
confirmed that the videos do not have a good quality but they stated that they would be
improved. ‘Some of them are not so good’ as expressed by Educator 2.
As can be seen most weaknesses are about the application of methods. Also the cultural concerns
and avoidance of Swedish society of usage of punishment and rewarding is clearly one of the
obstacles of the program. The program is based on the usage of behaviorism methods and if
parents avoid using the tools they may not achieve some aims.
6.5. Improvement of the program
Parents put forth some suggestions to improve COPE which is categorized to three parts. First
part is related to the participation of parents .One of them thinks that the program needs people
who are more vocal and participate in discussions.
The parents should have been as open as I am and share more about their difficulties. (Parent 1)
it was more or less the same people how were talking.( Parent 2)
Parents also, suggested introducing a financial incentive to increase the rate of participation of
parents and continuing the program. In order to increase the participation of parents one of the
parents suggested that there should be two versions of program, one small group and one big
group and parents have the choice between them according to their needs and abilities for
participation in group work.
The second category is about the application of the methods. Parents have some suggestions for
improving the usage and quality of application of methods. One of them thinks that if they
29
practice the skills more in group the program can be more effective. Also, one of them believes
that using home visits and individual home based services for practicing the new skills can help
parents to apply what they learn in a correct way. She thinks showing the practical aspects of
being patient, gives more hints about the self control and anger control.
The third group of the suggestions is related to the social empowerment. One of the parents
believes that making small networks with long-term friendly relations will help parents to feel
more secure and support each other.
I think smaller groups when the children are born the hospital arranges some form of
parenting information for six or seven session that the same group of parents go to and give
the child birth almost in the same period of time I don’t think they should followed up but they
should cooperate so this continues from those things taking in that group and make tight
connections between parents and support each other. So they can have a group to be
comfortable… A group with the history, a group that we had met before. People know each
other. People may have children in the same daycare. ( Parent1)
Educators also mentioned some points to improve the COPE which is categorized to different
parts. First of all they have some suggestions about their situation as a leader. One of them thinks
that there should be a continual educational program for the teachers. The second point is that
they think as educators they need more professional help from colleagues and the course
educator. They think they need more feedback and help in difficult situations. The last point is
related to the leader’s manual. One of the leaders thinks that they should produce an individual
manual alongside using cope manual. It can help educators to follow the program in a right track.
The second group is somehow related to the same thing which is stated by the parents. They
think there should be a session for parents to learn how to make connection with educational
structure and open up more.
The other part is about the educational material. Educators like the parents think that there
should be a demonstration of appropriate behavior in the movies and showing the inappropriate
behavior dose not suffice.
The last part is related to the parents which are sent to program by social services. One educator
thinks these parents need some follow ups to help them use the program more effectively and
change the situation which is considered harmful for children by social services office.
It seems that parents and educators suggested appropriate and relevant points to improve the
weaknesses they stated earlier.
30
6.6. Effects of cope on parents
I categorized the effects of the program in three parts: knowledge, attitude, and behavior. First
the interviewees did not mention any change due to the participation in the program. One of
them said that she does not feel an internal change.
Then I suggested them to think about the three possible different areas of change which might
have happened for them after participating in the program. They think that they have access to
books, magazines and friends which can provide the knowledge which is offered in the program.
Therefore they think the program does not have a big effect on changing of their knowledge
level.
‘I had the knowledge just wonder how put it into the practice’ (Parent 2)
But they think their attitudes are changed. One of them described the changing of attitude like
this:
New ways to do things and think about the situation.(Parent2)
My attitude is changed, I can look at her [my child] without getting emotionally involved.
(parent1)
Also she explained that her attitude is changed about prioritization of activities.
I had to change my attitude, maybe let go some of it to be able to prioritize better. Maybe
some days the dishes are not as important as actually cooking is. And maybe some days
making the house clean is not as important as going outside with my child. So it is
another attitude which in fact changes our behaviors.(Parent1)
They stated they feel more calm and in control. It seems that the parents have a better view that
how they can prioritize their activities and plan their lives and it helps them to have more control
on their lives as well as their feelings which results in the peace of their minds.
Educators also, mentioned some changes in knowledge, behavior of parents and specially their
attitudes toward their children
I am so glad that I could see in some parents a huge different. I can see a big difference like in
the attitude about the children and they don’t think in a negative way about their
children.(Educator2)
Also, they emphasized a lot about the self confidence gained by parents. It seems that self
confidence is created during the active group work. Empowerment takes place when they feel
they are the active agents who can change their situation and are not subject of education.
31
They can feel more confidence like I am a good parent. Educator 1And they come to us and they
find the knowledge they had inside of themselves. They came up with the ideas they came from
themselves that give them a lot of confidence… I think the whole problem is like to get I am in
control, I am in charge. And that makes them safer. Because then you know how to control the
situation.(Educator2 )
Another educator described the effect of program as below:
I think that they think more like a parent. So it may be the whole. Everything you said, the
behavior and the knowledge and attitude. I think the most important effect of program is to see
other ways to go and other rules to take. (Educator 1 )
The other effect which educators observed is related to the solidarity as also stated by an
educator:
And they feel better because they know they are not alone.( Educator1)
As mentioned above, I conclude the biggest change in first step happens in attitudes. The
interviews are done some days after finishing of the course. Therefore the long term changes
cannot be observed and reported by parents. They emphasize on the attitude change. Educators
on the other hand reported some changes in behavior of parents. The reason might be that the
educators have more experience of working with different groups and see the parents’ situation
from a wider view
6.7. Practical problems in implementation of program
Leaders reported some practical problems which can be categorized to two groups. In first group
mostly there are problems related to participation and interrelation of parents. One of educators
reported that some parents think if they go to parent education programs they are bad parents.
Therefore educators have to work initially on their attitudes toward participating in program. The
other educator confirms this problem. She says some parents think they will expose themselves if
they talk about their families and want to hide and ignore the problems. The other problem in this
group is the rate of participation. One educator thinks that when there are fewer people it is
harder for them to speak up because they feel like everybody listens so much to them. There are
some cultural issues which can decrease the participation of fathers.
In this part of the city we have many parents from different countries and may be they think it is
the mothers’ duty to come to parent education. (Educator1)
The other problem which educators face is about the parents who are sent to the program by
social services office in line with the child protection programs. Educators think that they need
more work, lot of encouragement and attention. They seem intimidated and shy to participate.
32
The second group of educators’ practical problems is related to application of program. They
think that following the manual is not easy because parents sometimes get out of the subject and
you have to bring them back. It takes time and sometimes the main subject is not discussed
enough to reach the main goals of educators. The other problem which is similar to the first one
happens when everybody are quiet. It is really hard to be a team leader when all are reluctant to
make a statement or share their views.
Parents also mentioned some points which are related to the practical problems of
implementation. One of them stated that we were different people from different backgrounds
without common problems. Also the cases were not open enough and some people feel insecure
to share them. The other one pointed that shyness and language problem of some parents make
them avoid from full participation. Besides, some people were more dominant especially those
who were more vocal. This made it difficult for everybody to participate in group discussions.
Sometimes it could result on limitation of different ideas and views of parents.
6.8. Integration of the program to Swedish context
As mentioned before, COPE was originally designed in Canada. The program later was
replicated and adjusted in Sweden. To see if the program matches the Swedish culture I asked
them if they find something unfamiliar in the program. It seems that the behavioral way of
reinforcement and punishment is not culturally familiar and favorable in Sweden. One of the
parents answered rewarding is a modern concept in Swedish society. The other answered that I
can’t say because I am not originally from Sweden and my parents used the parenting culture of
our home country for my upbringing.
Similarly one of the educators said time out and rewarding system is not the way we use in
Swedish family. It is not so common to give stars for good behavior and getting them back
because of bad behavior in Sweden.
It seems that other parts of program fits well in the Swedish society. It seems that the socioeconomical and educational level of the parents is not so different in the Canada and Sweden. It
makes it easy to use the program with small changes.
6.9 Cognitive-behavioral education of COPE and empowerment
To determine the relation between cognitive-behavioral education of COPE and empowerment, I
will firstly examine how much COPE is successful to reach its behavioral aims. Then I shall
analyze if the empowerment takes place or not and how.
According to the findings in first two questions which are described in the above eight parts
under result section , parents and educators confirmed the positive results of COPE education.
COPE could fulfill most of its educational aims. Educators activate the cognitive process of
33
parents to find the problems and produce the solutions for their common problems. Role play as
a modeling instrument is used in several parts of the program. Using encouragement and giving
feedback to initiate new behavior or reinforce desired behavior is used in this program. Also the
educators help parents to use this method and rules in their relation with the child to get control
of the child and produce desired behavior and eliminate the undesired behavior. So there is a
unity of method and content in this sense in the program which can result in a high efficient
program.
According to the interviewees, COPE has good effects on the change of knowledge, attitude, and
behavior of parents.
It is really good to see and I am so glad that I could see in some parents a huge different.
(Educator2)
It shows that COPE is successful to fulfill its behavioral aims. To adjust COPE to Swedish
context there was a need to change some parts relating to punishment and reinforcement to be
able to come to the practice of everyday life of Swedish parents.
It seems that the program has really contributed to the empowerment of the parents. Group work
increases parents’ self-management skills and helps them to act as a member of a group to
achieve shared goals. Gaining power, feeling more secure, feeling more in control in difficult
situations and other factors of empowerment work is reported by parents and educators during
the interviews. They even go further and suggest initiating a local supportive group of parents to
seek social empowerment beside the individual empowerment. Also, educators reported that they
have reached individual and social empowerment by working in the group of educators before
and after the course. They emphasize that they need more help of peers and seek group work and
shared work with other leaders. It shows that the program is empowering and can help both
parents and educator to gain more self and social empowerment.
7. Discussion
In this study the point of view of parents and educators about the COPE program is examined in
a qualitative manner. COPE is an evidence- based parent education program which is originally
from Canada but is adjusted to the needs of Swedish families. COPE is based on cognitivebehavioral theories and uses social learning and modeling theories for behavior modification. In
most of the earlier related researches, the quantitative methods are used to evaluate the
effectiveness of the program according to the positivist idea of truth. The researchers measured
some predesigned factors of behavior of child or parent before and after the intervention with or
without the evidence group. So, the views and experiences of the parents and educators who are
the participants of the program were ignored and some important part of reality of the
34
implementation of the program was missed. But this research uses a qualitative method with the
semi-structured interview of volunteer samples to go further than effectiveness factors of
previous researches.
I used interview results to find answers to my three research questions. First question asks the
point of view of parents and educators about the strengths of the program. According to my
results it seems that both participants and educators believe that COPE is a very helpful
educational program to change the unwanted behavior of parents and children and establishes
desired behaviors. It helps parents to find and resolve their children’s problems in a systematic
manner and feel calm and in control.
As to the second question about the weakness of the program, it seems that there are some
cultural barriers in applying certain behavioral methods like punishment which are programmed
in the original form of COPE education in Canada. Physical forms of punishment and
reinforcement of children as prescribed in the behavioral methods are alien to the Swedish
culture and parents find it difficult to practice. Also, participation of parents is low due to
perceived stigmatization for participation in the program. On the other hand, parents find it very
difficult to open up and talk about their internal family problems in groups.
The third research question is the main subject of discussion in this part. I was interested to know
if the cognitive-behavioral education of parents leads into their empowerment. From the
empirical data it seems that some aspects of COPE education can help individual empowerment
of parents and educators. The informants talked about some important elements of empowerment
like feeling secure, in control. They also expressed their willingness to work in group to achieve
shared goals. They were no more helpless or powerless in difficult moments of their lives.
Educators use the cognitive- behavioral social work to change parents’ behavior which can lead
to better adjustment and less behavioral problems of their children. As mentioned in earlier
research part, many researches show the efficiency of the BPT (Behavioral Parent Training)
programs in reducing the behavioral problems of children and increasing families’ different wellbeing factors. In a similar program, Incredible Years, there is significant reduction of behavioral
problems in the children on all relevant measures (Axberg, 2007). Another study shows
significant decrease in mothers' negative parenting interactions with their children and in
children’s conduct problems (Hartman, 2003). Earlier research in this area is mostly focused on
behavioral changes and ignores the relation of changing of behavior with empowerment. The
only relevant works I found is done by Marienau and Segal (2006) which mentioned that
experiencing parenting can be a help for development and strengthen of parents and Taub, Tighe,
and Burchard (2001) mentioned the positive relation between the family empowerment and
increasing of mental health of children. In my research I mainly focused on the relation of
cognitive-behavioral education and empowerment.
35
From a theoretical perspective, it is possible that the cognitive behavioral education results in
empowerment of participants. According to Payne (2005) empowerment is a rationalistic theory
and applies self-knowledge and self control. It assumes that people can control their lives by
rational, cognitive means. They can do it by changing ways of perception and interpretation of
information and removing false perceptions and beliefs. On the other hand, cognitive-behavioral
methods can help people to feel in control and change the situation of feeling powerless (Adams,
2003). Also, according to Barkley (1998) Social-Cognitive psychology tries to use attitude
change models while parents devise their own solutions and rationales. It can be seen that
cognitive-behavioral methods theoretically can lead to some aspects of empowerment.
The other point is about the morality of usage of behavioral programs. They use the methods of
client control. According to Payne (2005) some may say that all methods can be misused and the
most important morality is that the method can work and help the clients. Behavioral methods
can validate it by measuring the affectivity of their programs. Also, it is claimed that cognitive –
behavioral methods doesn’t label clients since emphasize on special behaviors. Still there are
many doubts about the usage of these methods and some social workers use the technique only
when the client decides to change the behavior or just use some aspects of work instead of using
whole of perspective in their work.
The results of the research seem to be valid since a semi-structured interview method is used to
grasp the research questions. The general line of interview guide is based on the research
questions which were designed to gather data and the questions and were adapted to the
interviewees. The reliability of the results is ensured by research method. The interview guide
questions the social structure in a systematic manner. The answers are based on general trends in
the society and cultural structures which may not be changed easily by time. Since the general
Swedish culture and family structure was the base of analysis, the results can be generalized in
the Swedish context.
One important thing which I found affecting my direction in research is my background as a
social worker from a developing country. In my context all of social works which are done for
children and families are empowering for them especially for women. Lack of legal support and
traditional context of the country limits the power of women. So, any kind of social work which
brings the notion of citizenship, human right even child rights give a kind of turning on their
engine to get their missed persona , social, and human rights in the society, family and group.
Although, some aspects of empowerment can be seen in the Swedish context, it is much different
in level and amount when I compare it with my home country. These differences can be due to
different socio-economical situation of women in these countries. Cultural and political
differences might be crucial. In Sweden, equality of men and women is one of the main aims and
targets of government. In the society, the rights and freedom of women are accepted in wider
aspects when I compare it with Iran. Women have enough situations to show their power or try
36
to gain it through a systematic way and don’t need to use any educational or social situation to
empower themselves.
This research can be done as a comparative pattern in a developing country versus Sweden to
study the differences of the same intervention in different socio-economical contexts. It can
reveal the effects of the social structures on the individual and group empowerment and help to
design appropriate interventions for families in different contexts.
37
References:
Adams, R., 2003. Social Work and Empowerment. 3rd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Axberg , U., Hansson, K., Broberg, A.G., 2007. Evaluation of the Incredible Years Series - An
open study of its effects when first introduced in Sweden. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 61(2),
pp.143 – 151
Barkley, R. A., 1998. Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Handbook for Diagnosis and
Treatment, 2nd ed. , New York: Guilford press.
Barlow, J. D., Stewart-Brown,S., 2000. Behavior Problems and Group-Based Parent Education
Programs. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 21(5):356-370
Barth, R.P., Landsverk, J., Chamberlain, P., Reid, J. B., Rolls, J. A., Hurlburt, M. S., Farmer, E.
M. Z., James, S., McCabe, K. M., Kohl, P.L., 2005. Parent-Training Programs in Child Welfare
Services: Planning for a More Evidence-Based Approach to Serving Biological Parents.
Research on Social Work Practice, 15(5), pp. 353-371
Bickman, L., Heflinger, C. A., Northrup, D., Sonnichsen, S., Sonnichsen, S.,1998. Long Term
Outcomes to Family Caregiver Empowerment. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 7(3), pp.
262-289
Bor, W., Sanders, M.R., Markie-Dadds, C., 2002. The Effects of the Triple P-Positive Parenting
Program on Preschool Children With Co-Occurring Disruptive Behavior and
Attentional/Hyperactive Difficulties, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology,30(6), pp. 571–587.
Bremberg, S., 2003. New tools for parents: Proposals for new forms of parent support, Swedish
National Institute of Public Health, [online]. Available at <
http://www.fhi.se/en/Publications/All-publications-in-english/New-tools-for-parents/> [Accessed
May 2008].
Bunting, L., 2004. Parenting Programmes: The Best Available Evidence. Child Care in Practice,
10 (4), pp.327 – 343
38
Canning, S. S., Fantuzzo, J. W., 2000. Competent Families, Collaborative Professionals:
Empowered Parent Education for Low Income, African American Families. Journal of
Prevention and Intervention in the Community,20(1-2), pp. 179-196.
Chronis, A. M., Chacko, A., Fabiano, G.A., Wymbs, B.T., Pelham, W.E. Jr., 2004.
Enhancements to the Behavioral Parent Training Paradigm for Families of Children With
ADHD: Review and Future Directions. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 7(1), pp.
1-27.
Corkum, P. V., McKinnon, M.M., Mullane, J.C., 2005. The Effect of Involving Classroom
Teachers in a Parent Training Program for Families of Children with ADHD. Child and Family
Behavior Therapy, 27(4), pp.29-49.
Cunningham, C. E., Bremner, R., Boyle, M., 1995. Large Group Community-Based Parenting
Programs for Families of Preschoolers at Risk for Disruptive Behaviour Disorders: Utilization,
Cost Effectiveness, and Outcome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36 (7), pp. 11411159.
Cunningham, C.E., Boyle, M.H., 2002. Preschoolers at Risk for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder: Family, Parenting, and Behavioral Correlates.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30(6), pp. 555–569.
Gilbert, N., 2003. Researching Social Life. 2nd ed. London: Sage.
Gilbert, N., 2008. Researching Social Life. 3RDed. London: Sage.
Hartman, R.R., Stage, S.A., Webster-Stratton, C., 2003. A growth curve analysis of parent
training outcomes: examining the influence of child risk factors (inattention, impulsivity, and
hyperactivity problems), parental and family risk factors. Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 44(3) pp. 388-398.
Johnson, H. C., Cournoyer, D. E., Filiri, J., Flynn, M., Grant, A. M., Lant, M. A., Parasco, S.,
Stanek, E. J., 2003. Are We Parent-Friendly? Views of Parents of Children with Emotional and
Behavioral
Disabilities.
Families
in
Society,
[online].
Available
at:
<
http://southwestva.us/journal/parent-friendly.pdf> [Accessed on may 2008].
Kvale, S.,1996. Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. London: Sage.
Marienau, C., Segal. J., (2006), Parents as developing adult learners, Child Welfare, 85(5),
pp.767-784.
May, T., 2001. Social Research: Issues, Methods and Process.3rd ed . London: Open university
Press.
39
Payne, M.,2005. Modern Social Work Theory. 3rd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Petersson, C., Petersson, K., Håkansson, A.,2003. General parental education in Sweden:
participants and non-participants. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, [online].
Available at: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1080/02813430310000555 [Accessed
May2008].
Reyno, S.M., McGrath, P. J., 2006. Predictors of parent training efficacy for child externalizing
behavior problems – a meta-analytic review. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and
Allied Disciplines, 47(1), pp. 99-111(13),
Rooke, O., Thompson, M., Day, C., 2004. School-Based Open Access Parenting Programmes:
Factors Relating to Uptake. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 9(3), pp. 130–138
Scheel, M. J., Rieckmann, T.,1998. An empirically derived description of self-efficacy and
empowerment for parents of children identified as psychologically disordered. The American
Journal of Family Therapy, 26 (1), pp. 15-27.
Taub, J., Tighe, T. A., Burchard, J., 2001. The Effects of Parent Empowerment on Adjustment
for Children Receiving Comprehensive Mental Health Services. Children's Services, 4(3), pp.
103 – 122.
Therborn,G., 2004. Between Sex and Power, London: Routledge.
van den Hoofdakker, B.J., van der Veen-Mulders, L., Sytema, S., Emmelkamp, P.M., Minderaa,
R.B., Nauta, M.H.,2007. Effectiveness of behavioral parent training for children with ADHD in
routine clinical practice: a randomized controlled study. Journal of the American Academy of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, [online]. Available at: <http://www.jaacap.com/article/S08908567%2809%2961844-X/abstract> [Accessed May2008].
Vincent, C., 1996. Parent empowerment? Collective action and inaction in education. Oxford
Review of Education, 22(4), pp. 465-482.
National public health objectives for Sweden: http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/2942
Swedish COPE: http://www.svenskacope.se/
The National Board of Health and Welfare: http://www.socialstyrelsen.se/english
National Institute of Public Health website: http://www.fhi.se/en/
40
Appendixs
1-Interview guide of “study of weakness and strength of COPE “
Educators’ version
Dear … thank you very much for participating in this research. As you know I am going to ask
you about your experiences of cope as a leader. This data will be used for the research of
“study of weakness and strength of COPE”. All the things that you tell me will be
used just for research purposes and your name and personal information will be confidential. We
can discuss about the research and its goals after the interview more.
1-As first question please tell me what do you think is purpose of cope?
2- Why do you think Swedish families need this program? Or what are the benefits of cope for
Swedish families?
3- Which parts are more useable for Swedish families? Why?
4- What are the unnecessary parts of cope for Swedish families? Why?
5- What do you think is missed in this program according to the needs of Swedish families?
6- How do you think cope gains its goals? (What are the best parts of it to gain the goals:
content, method?)
7- What are the weaknesses of cope? Why?
8- How do you think cope can be better?
9- Do you think this course have practical effect on parents? (Which part of parenting do you
think change more by participation in cope: knowledge, attitude or behavior?) How?
10- Which parts are easier to understand and apply? Why?
11- Which parts are more difficult to understand and apply? Why?
12- Which difficulties do you have as a leader? Why?
13-I don’t have more questions. If there is something about cope which you think is important
please tell me.
41
Thank you again for participating. I will send you the transcription of the interview as soon as I
prepare it.
If you have some question about research please ask me now.
Parents’ version
Dear … thank you very much for participating in this research. As you know I am going to ask
you about your experiences of cope as a parent. This data will be used for the research of
“study of weakness and strength of COPE”. All the things that you tell me will be
used just for research purposes and your name and personal information will be confidential. We
can discuss about the research and its goals after the interview more.
1-As first question please tell me what do you think get from cope?
2- Why do you think you need this program? Or what are the benefits of cope for your family?
3- Which parts are more useable for you? Why?
4- What are the unnecessary parts of cope for you? Why?
5- What do you think is missed in this program according to the needs of your family?
6- How do you think cope gains its goals? (What are the best parts of it to gain the goals:
content, method?) How?
7- What are the weaknesses of cope? Why?
8- How do you think cope can be better?
9- Do you think this course have practical effect on you? (Which part of parenting do you think
change more by participation in cope: knowledge, attitude or behavior?) how?
10- Which parts are easier to understand and apply? Why?
11- Which parts are more difficult to understand and apply? Why?
12-I don’t have more questions. If there is something about cope which you think is important
please tell me.
Thank you again for participating. I will send you the transcription of the interview as soon as I
prepare it.
If you have some question about research please ask me now.
42
2-Informed Consent
The following is a presentation of how we will use the data collected in the interview.
The research project is a part of our education in the International Masters program in Social
Work at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. In order to insure that our project meets the
ethical requirements for good research we promise to adhere to the following principles:
Interviewees in the project will be given information about the purpose of the project.
Interviewees have the right to decide whether he or she will participate in the project, even after
the interview has been concluded.
The collected data will be handled confidentially and will be kept in such a way that no
unauthorized person can view or access it.
The interview will be recorded as this makes it easier for us to document what is said during the
interview and also helps us in the continuing work with the project. In our analyze some data
may be changed so that no interviewee will be recognized. After finishing the project the data
will be destroyed. The data we collect will only be used in this project.
You have the right to decline answering any questions, or terminate the interview without giving
an explanation.
You are welcome to contact us or our supervisor in case you have any questions (e-mail
addresses below).
Student name & e-mail
Supervisor name & e-mail
43