In response to our last post on Supervision, Debbie Lancuki from Three Rivers Healthy Families in Virginia shared a comment alluding to the value of using video in family services. Debbie’s comment reminded me that one of the most common questions someone planning to implement parenting assessment asks is “Do we have to use video?” The simple answer is no. However, video offers so many advantages, that we strongly recommend that parent-child interaction be filmed for an observational parenting assessment. In this post we will explore the advantages for staff, supervisors, programs and families in using video to inform their parenting assessment. All the reasons to use video combine to support parents in nurturing their children.
Advantages for Service Providers
A parenting assessment is said to be reliable if different scorers arrive at very similar results when assessing the same parent-child interaction. Learning to observe and reliably score parent-child interaction is challenging. Learning to do it so well that you don’t need to refer back to a video requires an even higher level of skill. So the first reason to use video is that it requires less training to achieve reliable scoring. A second reason is that the coder can score the video at a time and place where there are few distractions, and portions of the video can be replayed as needed, so using video results in better parenting assessment scoring reliability.
The third and very powerful reason is that video provides the opportunity for reflection. Viewing the video creates insights into the parent-child interaction that don’t occur while with the family. These insights are important to effectively intervene to promote more nurturing parenting, which is an outcome most of us strive to achieve.
Advantages for Supervision
Fourth, staff can review the video with their supervisors, which dramatically enhances supervision. When used in this way, the video serves as a learning tool to enhance staff observational skills, and offer opportunities to explore different strategies for working with families. The video provides supervisors an authentic view of the parent-child interaction. Learning what the service provider sees in the interaction can be very valuable to supervision. Learning which interactions the service provider keys on and which she/he misses can be very informative regarding professional development. Thus, the video services multiple purposes in supervision.
Advantages for Programs
When another person watches and scores the video, reliability can be determined. Opting not to use video necessitates developing a reliability system in which multiple people watch and score the same live play interactions to assess scoring reliability. This is logistically very challenging, and costly, so the fifth reason is that video actually reduces staff time, cost and effort.
Advantages for Families
Sixth, for families, the video can be used directly in services as a learning tool. It has been reported frequently by parent educators and infant/family mental health specialists that parents respond well when they can see their own behaviors. Even more compelling to parents can be seeing the child’s reaction to his/her parent’s behavior. Being able to step out of the interaction and see it from outside can help the parent create insights. These new parental insights can then be used to promote improvement in parenting skills. Seventh, video can be used to show improvement, boosting parents’ confidence. Many programs report that families greatly appreciate receiving the videos as gifts. Some programs even provide play videos as a bound collection at graduation, as a journal of the journey the parent and child have taken together.
When combined, the seven reasons to use video with a parenting assessment far outweigh the reasons for not using it.. Video allows staff to be more reliable in their assessment, reflect more deeply on the interaction, enhance supervision, and more effectively intervene with parents. Thus, when conducting a parenting assessment, like the Keys to Interactive Parenting Scale using video is strongly recommended