Evaluation of a communications skills program with stepfather-adolescent-mother triads

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a communication skills program called Families Living Effectively Together (FLET); the objective was to determine if FLET could alter significant behavior within the blended family. The central themes analyzed were altering parenting styles, enhancing family communication, improving marital adjustment, and reducing family stress.

The 22 stepfamily respondents (132 subjects) who completed this quazi-experimental program were randomly assigned and classified as experimental, n = 27; and control, n = 17. The composition of each stepfamily included the female parent, the male stepparent and at least one adolescent child.

Both the experimental and control group families were given a pretest packet containing four paper-pencil instruments with instructions for completion at home. This procedure was repeated for the experimental and control posttest following the five week training program. The test instruments were the Family Game, Parent-Adolescent Communication Inventory, Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and Behavior Profile Inventory.

The data showed no statistical significance of improvement in the four areas under investigation. However, it can be inferred that most dysfunctional families tended to resist change, receive new parenting concepts slowly, and terminate self-growth activities pre-maturely, thus avoiding adequate closure on their dysfunction.