November 2010Vol. 11, No. 9Using Video Feedback to Promote Better Parenting
Child welfare and related professionals often struggle to find parent education programs and modalities that can help at-risk parents make long-lasting changes in their parenting practices. An evidence-based, strengths-based program that relies on video feedback has shown promising results for parents and others.
The Video Home Training® (VHT) and Video Interaction Guidance® (VIG) are programs of SPIN (a Dutch acronym for the Association for the Promotion of Intensive Home Training in the Netherlands) that have been used successfully in the Netherlands and elsewhere to train parents, families, teachers, and others, particularly in working with vulnerable children. Research documents the success of these programs in such areas as parent-child attachment, child welfare supervision, professional development for teachers/caregivers in early childhood, and leadership development. VIG also is used in this country to strengthen staff practice and improve model fidelity and program implementation.
Central to all of these programs is the use of video feedback in which the participants have opportunities to view video clips of themselves in successful interactions. Aided by trained guides who facilitate the positive interactions and then choose clips to reinforce the participants' desirable behavior, participants are able to actively master the appropriate behaviors.
The SPIN VHT Parenting/Family Support Program Model helps child welfare staff assess parents' strengths and use those strengths to improve family functioning and parent nurturing behaviors. The program has been used with professionals who work with teenage parents, at-risk parents of infants and toddlers, vulnerable families, and fathers.
For more information on SPIN programs and the research behind the programs, visit the SPIN USA website:
www.spinusa.org/index.htm