Evaluation of the 'You First' Programme for Young Parents

5 IS THE PROGRAMME FULFILLING ITS PERSON-CENTRED IDEALS?

Parents' involvement in the design and development of the programme

5.1 At the first home visit, parents were given the opportunity to select the topics that they wanted to cover at You First from four predefined areas (health and well-being; finances; stages of development and a personal project). They also had the option of adding topics that were not listed (although this rarely happened). As previously noted, the facilitators then collated these results and the most popular choices were covered at the group sessions. If a parent selected a topic that was not taken on by the group, facilitators would provide them with further information on that topic or provide the contact details of a local service that could help them.

5.2 In Phase 1, parents felt that they did not have much say in the order in which the topics would be covered. It was necessary for facilitators to schedule some of the sessions due to the availability of external speakers so, in the subsequent phases, they explained this to the parents. In Phases 2 and 3, this seemed to be less of a problem and parents felt that they were able to choose the order in which they would cover the topics.

5.3 In addition to choosing the topics in the parent only sessions, parents were able to choose what they had for lunch. Parents were generally happy with the choice that they were given but there were some exceptions to this. Some parents wanted to eat crisps and chocolate, or purchase their lunch from a fast food outlet, but felt that they were only allowed to choose healthy options. Others thought that the choice, usually wraps or baguettes with various sandwich fillings, was limited.

5.4 While parents could choose which activities they did in the parent and baby sessions, in practice this was mostly at the suggestion of the facilitators. As a result parents sometimes took part in activities that they might not have chosen themselves (e.g. singing).

Flexibility of the programme in adapting to the wants and needs of parents

5.5 Flexibility was built into You First throughout the duration of the programme. As previously mentioned, as long as an external speaker was not involved, the parents could change the order of the topics week by week. There was also scope to introduce new topics that had not occurred to parents at the start of the programme, although this did not happen often.

5.6 The 'planning for the future' session was designed with this flexibility in mind. The facilitators used this session as a platform to uncover any wants and needs parents may have found difficult to articulate in front of the group. This was used to provide parents with information, link them to local services or deliver a session on a particular topic (for example, if there were a number of parents interested in studying for qualifications they could ask an adult learning advisor to come to the group to discuss this).

Uncovering the needs and wants of parents

5.7 Generally, the programme did seem to be effectively uncovering the needs and wants of parents. As discussed in section 4.2, parents felt that the topics that they wanted were being covered in You First. In Phases 2 and 3, a tick list was introduced so that parents could keep track of when the topics they selected were covered. This helped them as, not only could they see week to week that their topics were being covered, but they could remember what they had originally chosen.

5.8 In a broader sense, facilitators developed relationships with the parents that enabled them to gain insight into what they needed. They did this by building a rapport with parents, by spending time getting to know them as individuals and by making themselves available if parents needed to speak to them privately (see section 5.9 below).

Asking private questions in the group environment

5.9 Parents felt that, if they needed to, they could go to the facilitators and speak to them privately. Around half of parents had done so and those who had were confident that the information remained confidential and found the facilitators' advice helpful.

SQCF requirements and the person-centred approach

5.10 Undertaking the qualification at You First is optional. However, there was a lack of clarity over what the Youth Achievement Award involved. As parents did not fully understand the qualification and its administration, it is unclear whether they were aware that it was not compulsory. Also, it is currently a 'one size fits all' qualification and is not tailored to parents' individual needs and abilities. Taking these issues into consideration, the qualification appears less person-centred than other aspects of You First. However, it is not a barrier to the person-centred approach to the programme as a whole. Facilitators were aware that the qualification was not working as they had hoped and explored different options to improve this. They planned to introduce the Dynamic Youth Award as this contains much less paperwork than the Youth Achievement Award. The facilitators had originally planned to introduce the Dynamic Youth Award in Phase 3 but due to resourcing and timing issues this was not possible. The award will now be introduced in future sessions.

Professionals' views on whether the person-centred approach leaves gaps in programme content

5.11 Overall, professionals supported the person-centred approach and had few concerns about potential gaps in programme content.

5.12 Facilitators reported that some professionals felt that it would be beneficial to cover sexual health, in particular, contraception and family planning. This is available on the list of topics parents see at the first home visit but none of them have expressed any interest in covering it. The facilitators felt that, if the parents do not want information on this issue it would go against the ethos of the programme to cover it.

The impact of the strength-based approach on parents' experience of the programme

5.13 You First is a strength-based programme, which means that parents are not selected because they are perceived to be doing something wrong or are a 'bad' parent. It aims instead to help parents develop their strengths, identify areas that they want to build on (whether parenting skills or wider life skills) and provides them with the tools to do so. While there were some specific incidents when parents felt that they were being told what to do by facilitators, it was clear that they did not feel that they had been invited to the group because they had done something wrong or were not coping. This suggests that the messages communicated to parents at the recruitment stage have been successful in conveying the culture of the group to parents. However, the greatest influence in this regard came from the ethos created at the group by the facilitators. Parents commented that going to You First made them feel like they were a better parent than they had previously thought and that it was the facilitators that helped them to see this. They reported that the facilitators gave them the confidence to believe that being a young parent did not mean that they were any less capable of providing their child with a good life.