Parents’ perceptions and evaluation of the implementation of a resilience curriculum in Greek schools

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates parental perceptions and evaluation of the implementation of a European resilience-focused curriculum (RESCUR) in a sample of Greek schools. RESCUR, which includes six resilience-promoting skill areas, was implemented in 28 elementary classrooms in the Southern region of Crete, Greece. Parental perceptions and views were considered to be an important component (among others) of this implementation study and they were studied as part of comprehensive program evaluation. With the completion of the program, a sample of 100 participant students’ parents evaluated aspects of the program that they found helpful for their child, for themselves and their family through a questionnaire including quantitative and qualitative questions. Correlations and content analysis showed that according to parents, RESCUR was overall effective in promoting communication skills, self-determination skills, and healthy relationships both for them and their children, while significant relationships were found among helpfulness of RESCUR for the child, the parent, and the family. The results suggest that parental perceptions and views are an important component of school-based resilience interventions worth studying because useful information about implementation can be identified for the optimization of the program. Implications for future RESCUR implementation and research are discussed.