pdf [5.3MB] - Department of Families, Housing, Community Services

The PUP program targets problems of individual parents, parent-child relationships, FF ingeneral and the family’s social context/lifestyle including drug/alcohol usage (Dawe et al,2004).It is noted that the program’s delivery is intended on a one-to-one basis in the family home,and through a series of structured but non-sequential modules. Modules contain differentexercises to help the parent work towards their own parenting goals, thus the program isadaptable and intended to be customised to the unique needs and resources of each family.The modules and descriptions of these are presented below, to gain a clearer idea of thetypes of areas the PUP program targets, and the FF domains under which these may beencompassed.TABLE 3-23: PUP MODULESSource: Dawe et al (2004).Research on efficacyThe PUP program has been systematically evaluated in terms of its efficacy by the programdevelopers, Dr Paul Hartnett and Professor Sharon Dawe. The findings from these studiesare discussed below.Pilot StudyA pilot study of the program was undertaken (Dawe et al, 2003) to determine the feasibility ofthe intervention. This involved the recruitment of twelve families from a communitymethadone clinic. Nine of these families were assessed and had to undertake the12 session program, with eight families recontacted after three months. Informationcollection was through a semi-structured interview to obtain basic demographic information,background history of parents, treatment history, drug/alcohol history, and current drugusage including methadone use. Self-report questionnaires of primary caregivers wereutilised to measure functioning across the following domains: parental functioning; child functioning; family relationships; and94