Date of Award:

5-2002

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Human Development and Family Studies

Department name when degree awarded

Family and Human Development

Committee Chair(s)

Scot M. Allgood

Committee

Scot M. Allgood

Committee

Randall M. Jones

Committee

Shelly L. K. Lindauer

Abstract

This thesis evaluated training groups for adoptive parents of special-needs children. It was hypothesized that training would influence parenting stress, stress symptoms, and marital satisfaction, and that helpfulness of training sections would depend upon the status of the participants' children (i.e., foster, adopted, or adoption in process). Data were collected from 15 participants who were sampled through agencies that typically interact with adoptive parents.

Repeated measures ANOYAs were computed to compare scores on the PSI/SF Parental Distress Subscale, OQ-45, and RDAS across three time intervals. No significant differences were found. Data from a scale of helpfulness were analyzed using descriptive statistics. There was a general trend such that foster parents reported the training groups as least helpful, adoptive parents reported them as more helpful, and participants in the process of adoption reported the highest ratings of helpfulness. Explanations for results are discussed along with implications and recommendations for future research.

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