Adlerian-based parenting program in Lithuania : developing the first step

Abstract

Parents in the former soviet countries such as Lithuania are faced with a number of familial and external challenges related to stressful work situations, decrease of support from extended family and social agencies as well as an increase of one parent families. In addition to these factors, many families have been traumatized by parents emigrating to other countries for higher salaries and leaving the children in the care of others. From a development perspective, children may suffer the consequences of these situational factors. From our perspective, we believe that parents could benefit from psycho educational information related to parenting which might increase their chances of dealing with their children more effectively when one or more of these life events occur. Though various parenting programs can be found in Lithuania, most of the approaches are incoherent and lack a theoretical base. With this in mind, an evidencebased parenting program - the Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP; authors - Don Dinkmeyer Sr., Gary McKay, Don Dinkmeyer Jr.) - is being implemented for the first time in Lithuania. The program is based on the principles of Individual Psychology and consists of clearly structured sessions, parent manuals and detailed leadership manual. The purpose of the presentation will be to briefly introduce the program to the participants and describe a research study which was designed by the presenters to test the effectiveness of the STEP program with a Lithuanian sample of parents. The presentation will include ways of recruiting parents via a website related to the program, training of leaders and translation of the STEP Parent’s Handbook into the native language. We believe that this Adlerian-based parenting program can provide parents with skills that may address the developmental needs of their children as well as the trauma’s related to challenging events experienced by families.