28 September 2010

UQ researchers are on the lookout for grandparents who want to fine tune their parenting skills to take part in a new program.

James Kirby and Professor Matthew Sanders have developed a new version of the award-winning Triple P Parenting Program and are seeking 80 grandparents to take part.

"Grandparents bring a great deal of experience and expertise to the role when providing care to their grandkids, as they have been parents before. But what we are finding from our research is that some grandparents want to update their parenting knowledge and ideas, as it has been a while since they have had to care for children on a regular basis," Professor Sanders said.

Grandparent Triple P is a nine-week group program that runs at the University of Queensland's St Lucia campus.

Early sessions will focus on refreshing parenting strategies with the emphasis placed on working with parents to form a positive parenting team. The latter part of the program will be conducted by telephone to help participants develop these techniques further.

To participate in Grandparent Triple P you need to provide at least 12 hours of care per week to a grandchild who is aged between two to nine years. There is no cost to take part.

More information is available at https://experiment.psy.uq.edu.au/grandparents/

To register your interest or find out more, contact (07) 3365 6207 or j.kirby@psy.uq.edu.au

Media: James Kirby (07 3365 6207, j.kirby@psy.uq.edu.au)