'n Evaluasie van filialterapie

English: Filial therapy is a cost-effective and economically viable method that has been thoroughly researched in several countries, and applied to various nationalities. Several variables have been measured in the process. The effectiveness of the training of parents as therapeutic agents in the lives of their children is a research area that needs to be further developed in South Africa. The primary goal of this study was to establish the effectiveness of filial therapy with regard to: • a more satisfactory experience of parenthood; • the red uction of: * problem situations related to parenthood, and * the number of problems that children experience; • the reduction of parental stress; and • the promotion of parental acceptance of the child. The secondary goal was to make recommendations with regard to the effectiveness of filial therapy as a parent-child treatment modality, based on the results, particularly in view of the changes that this therapy may bring about in the parent. The third goal was to provide a complete overview of filial therapy. The information that is gained from the study may, among other things, be of value to counselling professions, parents, children, and families on the whole. A literature study was done to obtain information with regard to the nature, origin, rationale, application, treatment model, choice of parents and children, format of group, phases, existing research, as well as the structure and contents of filial therapy. A detailed step-by-step manual in Afrikaans is provided for use by the therapist during filial therapy. As several of the medical and psychological terms and abbreviations that are used are not generally familiar, a separate chapter has been dedicated to the definition of these terms and abbreviations. The effectiveness of filial therapy is measured by comparing it with the Parent Effectiveness Training (PET). For this reason, a separate chapter is dedicated to the discussion of this programme. The experimental sample consisted of parents with children in middle childhood. This phase is discussed briefly in Chapter 6. Finally, attention is given to the research results, conclusions, shortcomings of the research and recommendations with regard to further research. In this research study a random sample consisting of 29 parents was used. The research design was a randomized experimental and control group design, consisting of a pre-test and a post-test. The experimental group (N = 10) underwent filial therapy, while the other group underwent the PET (N = 9). The control group (N = 10) did not undergo any kind of therapy or parental guidance. The following measuring instruments were completed by the parents in the various groups. These instruments focus on the parents' view of parenthood and their attitude towards the child. • Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2) • Filial Problem Checklist (FPC) • Parenting Stress Index (PSI) • Porter Parental Acceptance Scale (PPAS) Hypotheses were posed and tested to determine whether parents can be used as therapeutic agents and whether filial therapy is more effective than a more conventional parental guidance programme (such as the PET). The statistical processing was done by applying a non-parametric statistical research technique, namely the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. Within the South African context, filial therapy can be successfully applied as a parent-child treatment modality. Judging from the results, it would seem that filial therapy is more effective than a more traditional parental guidance programme. Only the filial therapy parent group experienced that problem situations related to parenthood were meaningfully reduced after therapy, as well as the number of problems experienced by the child were reduced. The conclusion is therefore drawn that parents may be successfully used as therapeutic agents.