The Positive Parenting Telephone Service : long-term benefits for isolated families

The Positive Parenting Telephone Service (PPTS) provides an innovative model of parent education to families with children aged up to ten years old who live in the Hume region of Victoria. It disseminates parent education and resources to remote areas and marginalised people in socially vulnerable groups in the community, as these parents may be less likely to participate in parent education programs. The parents/carers may be experiencing general parenting challenges, child behaviour difficulties or may undertake the program as a preventative measure. Rural, remote and/or social isolation may contribute to parents being unable to access traditional parent education services. The PPTS is able to reduce barriers to service delivery by providing a telephone assisted self-directed advice. This presentation provides an overview of the aims and service objectives of the PPTS, and the methods used to minimise barriers to service participation. It includes the measures used to evaluate the program.