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Internet co-parenting can lower divorce conflict

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Online co-parenting programmes could be the answer for U.S. divorced couples.
Online co-parenting programmes could be the answer for U.S. divorced couples.

The study's lead author says such courses are "timely" because conflict between parents during the separation period before divorce is more intense compared to a few years later.

"There is evidence that the conflict between parents contributes to child maladjustment and behaviour issues among youth," said Bowers, a researcher with the Family Resiliency Centre at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Read: Getting divorced? Soften the blow for your kids

"The effects of the inter-parental conflict have been found to be stronger than the effects of the divorce itself," she added.

Kids do better when parents co-operate

Some previous research has shown that children fare better when their parents co-operate and work to minimise conflict, she told Reuters Health.

"This is why laws and policies surrounding these classes focus on the children . . . the aim is to help parents cooperatively communicate, minimise conflict and communicate with their child about the divorce," she said.

Bowers and her colleagues have reviewed online co-parenting courses that satisfy the courts in the past.

She said they look at the design of the programme and its content, to see if they include important topics for divorcing parents and if they're based on solid scientific evidence.

Read: Parents’ divorce may influence kids to smoke

"The content reviews have included the quality of the programme's focus on child adjustment, adult adjustment, co-parenting, court-focused information, and special circumstances, such as interpersonal violence, substance abuse and mental health issues," Bowers said.

"With the design, we look at instructional strategies, activities and the degree to which the online teaching process included the use of the most current and effective methods for online instruction," she said.

Bowers noted that active instructional methods, which encourage participants to reflect on a topic or to develop a plan, are better than passive instruction that only requires participants to read or listen to content.

The new review, published in the Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, was invited by Online Parenting Programmes, a provider of online courses that is recognised by courts in more than 850 counties in the U.S.

In addition to evaluating a 4-hour version of the programme, the study team looked at 1,543 parents' impressions of the course in surveys taken before and after they completed it in 2011 and 2012.

Improved communication

Those results showed that parents felt the biggest benefit from the programme was improved communication with their children. Men were more likely than women to rate the programme as useful in that regard, although the researchers are not sure why.

Read: Early divorce worse for kids' security

Bowers said that overall, the company did a great job with the content that is specific to outcomes for children, such as helping parents to think about what their children may be experiencing based on their age, encouraging parents to think about the effects of conflict on children and providing some basic strategies for managing conflict and cooperatively communicating.

In addition, she said the programme included a range of relevant topics and accurate content on issues like changes to family structure, finances and communication between co-parents and their children.

Bowers and her team made some suggestions to improve the programme, including increasing the amount of content that may be more helpful for the parents.

"The child-focused content is important, yet we believe that more adult-focused content and strategies that help the social-emotional wellbeing of the parents are needed to ensure that parents can adequately help their children through this period of transition," Bowers said.

The study team also suggested the course address such issues such as dating, cohabitation and blended families.

Reducing stress and anxiety

"These topics may seem less relevant in this early stage of the separation process although it may be important to provide some direction or resources to consider," Bowers said.

While court-focused content, such as parenting plans, child support and financial obligations were covered, issues related to legal procedures, legal representation, review of legislation, custody evaluation options and mediation were not discussed at all, Bowers noted.

Read: A heads-up for single parents

"Given this is a time when parents may be interacting with the court systems for the first time, having information about these things could reduce some of their stress or anxiety about the process," she said.

Michelle Muncy, CEO of Online Parenting Programmes, said that she and her team used the review to re-evaluate and adjust the programme, primarily by making the content easier to read, adding definitions and more interactive content.

"We did quite a bit of revamping of our entire programme based on that study," Muncy told Reuters Health.

In addition, the company allowed parents to have access to the programme after finishing the course.

"Something the parents really appreciate is having access to the programme after completion as a resource tool," Muncy said.

Read More:

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Parents' arguments may affect bond with kids
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Image: Sad looking girl with her fighting parents from Shutterstock.

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