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Would you like to know how to boost your shy/sensitive child’s confidence and reduce their fears and anxieties? You are invited to take part in a new study of an online parenting program.
The program, called ‘Cool Little Kids Online’ provides parents practical advice about how to respond to shyness, fears or anxieties experienced by 3-6 year olds. The online program has been adapted from a group parenting program which has been used effectively in Australia for more than ten years. It has been developed to help more parents develop strategies to boost confidence in shy children, and help prepare them for an easier start to school. A small pilot study indicated nine out of ten parents who completed the program would recommend it to others.
The study in which you are invited to participate is being conducted by LaTrobe University in Melbourne and Macquarie University in Sydney. It aims to find out whether or not the new online program helps parents boost their children’s confidence. It will compare a group of parents who undertake the Cool Little Kids Online Program, with a group of parents that don’t complete the programs. Both groups of parents will complete three questionnaires about parenting, over a period of 24 weeks.
So that parents that do and don’t complete the Cool Little Kids Online program can be compared, only one group of parents will complete the program immediately. The second group of parents will complete the program at the end of the 24 week period, after they have completed the questionnaire. The program is offered free of charge for participants in the study. Parents who participate do not get to choose which group they are in. The researchers will assign them to a group by drawing their name from a hat.
Cool Little Kids Online is a program with eight modules, which take 30-60 minutes each to complete. Each module includes online activities, video and audio to listen to and stories written by other parents. Each module gives parents a set of parenting skills that they can practice and develop in between doing the modules. For example skills that help parents respond to children’s fears and anxieties when saying hello or goodbye, separating from their parents, playing with children they don’t know or trying new activities and going to sleep.
Parents who participate in the study will complete one module each week if they are put in the immediate start group. Those in the delayed start group can complete the modules at any time after they complete the final study questionnaire. Altogether, parents who participate will need to spend about 7.5 hours completing the Cool Little Kids Online program, and about 1.5 hours completing the questionnaires. Because the program and the questionnaires are online, parents can choose the time when it is most convenient for them to complete the modules and questionnaires.
If you have a 3-6 year old child and are interested in participating, you can find out more about the study and register your name at: coollittlekids.org.au/login.
Downloads
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Building young children’s confidence |
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Participation Information Statement |
(Source: Cool Little Kids)
