Parent power

The Incredible Years parenting programme has been much studied: added to the literature is a two-year follow-up evaluation. The European Journal of Developmental Psychology alliteratively devotes its February issue to evidence-based parenting programmes to promote positive parenting. Highlights include a review of FAST (Families and Schools Together), as used in the UK, US, Holland and Germany, which has a good track record for retaining low income families. Also there's a paper looking at the use of parenting programmes to address child maltreatment along with an account of a study that considers how far parenting programmes aimed at improving a child's life chances should address literacy as well as child behaviour.