The Exploring Together
Program was developed in the late 1980’s at the Austin Hospital outpatient
unit for Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatry under the leadership of Dr
Lyn Littlefield. Pre and post questionnaires were administered to the parents
and teachers of the children participating in Exploring Together, and the
Program was found to be effective at improving the behaviour of these children.
Follow up questionnaires at 6 and 12 months indicated that the improvements
were maintained over time. These behaviour changes were particularly significant
in that, for the majority of children, the changes indicated a move from a
clinical range of behaviour problems (top 2% of the population) into the behaviour
range of the normal population. This change has very positive implications
for the long-term mental health and well-being of these children and their
families.
From the Clinic to the Community.
On the strength of these
results, Dr Littlefield, (then lecturing in the School of Psychology at La
Trobe University), was approached by a community organisation, Melbourne Citymission,
to take this clinic-based Program into the community. This enabled the Program
to be accessed at an earlier level of intervention and by more families. This
partnership was supported through funds from the William Buckland Foundation.
For three years, professionals throughout Victoria (as well as some from Perth
Citymission) were trained via 10-week demonstration Programs and 2 day workshops
at La Trobe University to enable them to conduct the Programs in their own
communities. Personnel support, ongoing consultation and Program evaluation
was also provided to those who undertook training. The programs were mainly
conducted in disadvantaged areas of Melbourne and rural Victoria, including
some families from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB).
During the three-year community implementation of Exploring Together, the
Programs were independently evaluated by Sheryll Hemphill as part of her Ph.D.
The results of the evaluation showed that the Program was successful at bringing
about statistically significant improvements in a number of areas including
the children’s behaviour (delinquent and aggressive behaviour, attention
and social problems, and anxious/depressed behaviour), parenting skills, parent-child
interaction, and parent’s characteristics. Furthermore, parents and children
reported high levels of satisfaction with the Program.
At the end of this grant, the Exploring Together Program became self-sufficient
and continued to offer training and consultation to professionals. In 1993,
the Exploring Together Program received a commendation for the Australian
Violence Prevention Award. The Program also received the Robin Winkler Award
for Community Psychology awarded to Lyn Littlefield from the Australian Psychological
Society.
A Program for Adolescents
In 1996, the Program received
a 12-month grant from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Innovative
Projects to develop the Program for use with adolescents. Once more, a manual
was produced and professionals throughout Victoria were trained to conduct
Programs for adolescents in their own communities. The Program was later awarded
an Australian & New Zealand Mental Health Services Award for ‘innovation
and excellence’.
A National Program
In 1998, the Exploring
Together Program received a Commonwealth Grant under the Youth Suicide Prevention
Program - Programs for Parents. This grant enabled professionals throughout
urban and rural Australia to be trained in the Primary school Program. Over
400 people, drawn from every state and territory, took advantage of this offer.
A total of 149 families throughout Australia participated in an evaluation
of programs run by these trained leaders. Measures were completed by participating
parents, children, and teachers of the children included in the groups. Statistically
significant improvements were reported in a number of areas including the
children’s behaviour, and some parenting skills. The reported changes
in the children’s behaviour included decreases in children’s anxiety/depression,
delinquent and aggressive behaviour, withdrawn behaviour, somatic problems
and social problems both at home and at school, and improvement in children’s
overall self-concept.
Changes in parent measures included a significant reduction in the dysfunctional
parenting practices of overreactivity and verbosity. The vast majority of
the parents reported a positive overall feeling about the program and were
satisfied with their child’s progress. The children reported similar
positive impressions of the 10-week Exploring Together Program. In general,
the majority of children liked coming to the group and felt that the group
helped them. These results confirmed, once again, the effectiveness of the
Program as well as the effectiveness of
the 2-day workshops with follow-up phone consultation as a way of training
program leaders to run successful and effective Programs.
A Program for preschoolers…
In 1999, the Exploring
Together Program received another grant from the William Buckland Foundation.
Through this grant, the Exploring Together Program for Preschool children
and their families was trialed and evaluated. A comprehensive manual was produced,
and over 100 professionals throughout Victoria were trained to run the Program.
Results of an evaluation of the Preschool Programs run by newly trained leaders
echoed previous findings. In particular, it was found that the presence and
intensity of children’s problem behaviour moved from the clinical to
normal range, parental satisfaction increased and dysfunctional parenting
practices decreased, and participants reported being highly satisfied with
the program and its perceived usefulness in assisting with the child’s
and family’s problems.