Verbal Praise Research Articles

The Influence of Recognition and Appreciation of Employees on Effective Delivery of Judicial Services in the Judiciary of Tanzania

This study was undertaken with the objective to examine recognition and appreciation of employees in service delivery at the Judiciary of Tanzania. The study used Herzberg's two-factor motivation theory while on the other hand explanatory research design was employed to determine the causal relationship between non-monetary incentives and effective judiciary service delivery. Data were collected from a sample of eighty-eight (88) participants obtained through the Yamane (1967) formula from the target population of 750 staff. The data collection process entailed in-depth interviews and structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using narrative analysis and descriptive analysis. Findings indicate that recognition and appreciation of employees in service delivery at the Judiciary of Tanzania is very low. The most common forms of recognition and appreciation are certificates of appreciation/recognition, verbal praise, employees’ recognition wall and team trophy. The study concludes the existence of biases and favouritism in recognition and training attendance, and the existing infrastructure is very unconducive for Judiciary employees to work at their full potentials while serving judicial clients. The study recommends robust systems of recognition, and employee selection for participating in trainings, as well as good work environment and office equipment to smoothen the work for the Judiciary employees in providing effective judicial services.

Transforming Leadership Style: Enhancing Organizational Culture, Innovative Behavior and Employees Performance

Research aims: This study aimed to investigate how positive Employees Performance can be achieved when leadership behavior fosters Organizational Culture and Employees Innovative Behavior.Design/Methodology/Approach: This quantitative study obtained data through an online questionnaire, where responses were collected from 150 employees of private companies in DKI Jakarta area. The data were then analyzed using Structural Equation Model (SEM) with AMOS version 25.Research findings: The results showed that Transformational Leadership had no direct effect on Organizational Culture, Employees Innovative Behavior, or Employees Performance. However, Transactional Leadership had a direct effect on Organizational Culture and Employees Innovative Behavior, but not on Performance. Even when mediated by Organizational Culture and Innovative Behavior, Transformational Leadership still had no effect on Performance. On the other hand, Transactional Leadership, when mediated by Organizational Culture and Employees Innovative Behavior, had more significant influence on Performance.Theoretical Contribution/Originality: This study offered a novel perspective by showing that neither Transformational nor Transactional Leadership had a direct impact on Employees Performance. However, the mediating role of Organizational Culture and Innovative Behavior strengthened the influence of Leadership on Employees Performance.Practitioners/Policy Implications: To improve Employees Performance through Transactional Leadership, leaders should cultivate innovative Organizational Culture and foster Employees Innovative Behavior. In addition, leaders should address deviations in employees behavior and recognize positive contributions, ranging from verbal praise to offering promotion opportunities.Research Limitations/Implications: This study focused on Transformational Leadership, Transactional Leadership, Organizational Culture and Employees Innovative Behavior, as well as Employees Performance. Future studies were recommended to consider adding independent variables such as Creative Self-efficacy and Humble Leadership. Meanwhile, companies were expected to maintain a flexible culture to adapt to changes, and continuously nurture employees' creative ideas by providing opportunities. Leaders should also consistently monitor employees behavior and acknowledge good performance.

The effect of verbal praise on prospective memory.

Verbal praise is often used to improve prospective memory performance in daily life. According to the motivation cognitive model, the promotional effect of verbal praise on prospective memory may depend largely on redeploying attentional resources, so its promotional effect is likely to be influenced by attention. Two groups of college students (n = 128, n = 117) participated in two experimental studies that examined this hypothesis. Experiment 1 manipulated attention load by changing the difficulty of the ongoing tasks to focus on the effect of verbal praise on prospective memory under different attention load conditions. The results showed that verbal praise promoted prospective memory performance under both attentional load conditions (low, high), but verbal praise mainly promoted the prospective component when the attentional load was low, meanwhile, verbal praise mainly promoted the retrospective component when the attention load was high. Experiment 2 altered the dependence of prospective memory tasks on attentional resources by manipulating the cue focality, further exploring the promotional effect of verbal praise on prospective memory with different types of cues under the low attention load condition. The results showed that verbal praise only promoted prospective memory when non-focal cues were used. The results of this study partially verified the motivation cognitive model.

The Words of Praise in the Holy Quran (Morphological Semantic Study)


 
 
 
 ABSTRACT
 Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, who does not praise others for creation and management, to Him is praise always.This research came under the title (The Words of Praise in the Holy Qur’an, a morphological and semantic study), praise from the devotional terms that came in the Holly Qur'an and the purified Sunnah of the Prophet, which prompted me to study it. The study consisted of two sections, the morphological one was from the topics, the declension inquired by each of the derivatives (praise),Whether the name of the subject or the noun of the object and the forms of exaggeration or other derivatives, I collected what came from the verses from the Book of Allah Almighty from the words derived from the infinitive (Al-Hamd) and the number of the words mentioned, whether in the infinitive or derivatives I examined it, and mentioned the difference between linguistic praise, customary praise, verbal praise, actual praise, and present praise. Then I mentioned in it how it is derived from the triple verb and the quadruple verb, then after that I mentioned the difference between them in terms of the morphological derivation, as well as the verb that only came once in the present passive tense. Then I mentioned the semantic topic in which I mentioned the differences between the triple verb (Hamad) and the quadruple verb (Hamad) and the semantic difference between the noun of the subject from them, then I mentioned the noun of the subject and the difference between them, Then I mentioned the object noun from the triple (Mahmoud) and from the quartet (Muhammad) and the semantic difference between them And its occurrence in the Holy Qur’an as the accusative noun appeared once from the triple and four times from the quatrain, and the one who does the superlative came once also, which is (Ahmed), and the Holy Qur’an used this name and its meaning, then differentiated between (praise) and ( compliment) as they are from the same fluctuations which is (Ha, Meem and Dal) . I mentioned the difference between them, then I mentioned the results of the research and its appended, and I mentioned the sources that I used in the research. 
 
 
 

Spanish Adaptation of the Parenting Practices Interview (PPI-25) for Families with Substantiated Reports or at Risk for Child Maltreatment

Parenting practices are a central focus of many family preventive and treatment programs due to their influence on children’s well-being. Reliable measures of parenting practices are relevant not only for research purposes, but also for assessment, selection of intervention goals, and evaluation of expected changes in clinical practice. However, measurement of parenting practices has been a challenge for researchers and practitioners. The Parenting Practice Interview (PPI) has been developed to assess both positive and negative parenting dimensions and has been used in clinical contexts. The present study aimed to develop a Spanish adaptation of the PPI and to analyze its main psychometric properties. The sample consisted of 213 parents with substantiated reports or at risk for child maltreatment with significant problems in coping with their children’s behavioral problems, recruited from Child Welfare and Child Protection Services. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), measurement invariance (MI), convergent validity, and differences based on parents’ and children’s age and gender were analyzed. A four-factor model with 25 items (Appropriate Discipline, Verbal Praise and Incentives, Inconsistent Discipline, and Physical Punishment) met statistical requirements (RMSEA = 0.06, CFI = 0.92, TLI = 0.91) and showed adequate internal consistency and convergent validity. MI analyses allowed comparison across time and groups. Although more research is needed, the PPI-25’s psychometric properties are encouraging for its use with families with substantiated reports or at risk for child maltreatment in Spain.

A Mixed Study on the Effectiveness of Verbal Praise in Primary School Class

Verbal praise is frequently used as motivation by teachers in class and truly effective verbal praise plays an important role in maintaining classroom order and stimulating positive student behavior. In this study, students from three classes of X Primary School of Jiangxi Province were interviewed and 328 verbal praise expressions collected. The subsequent empirical study on the effectiveness of verbal praise in four dimensions, namely content, spatiality, subjectivity and time, found that verbal praise generates both shallow and deep effects. The shallow effects act as a foundation for deep effects but do not necessarily result in deep effects. Other conditions are required to actualize a deep effect.

Cockatoos know a thing or two about weight

Goffin's cockatoos – or blushing cockatoos as they are also known because of the salmon-pink coloured feathers between their eyes and beak – are not only adorable, but also smart. A casual YouTube search will soon convince you of their shrewdness. And these blushing beauties are excellent problem solvers. They can make and use tools from different materials, such as sticks and cardboard, to extract food from boxes in the lab. Assessing the weight of objects is also a critical skill displayed by these wise creatures: gauging the mass of a nut may help them to infer its nutritional value or decide whether they are strong enough to carry it, and determining the weight of an object such as a stick, could help them to optimise how they use it as a tool. But can cockatoos tell the difference between objects that appear to be identical, but are of different weights? Poppy Lambert, Alexandra Stiegler and colleagues from the Messerli Research Institute and the University of Vienna, Austria decided to find out. They predicted that the cockatoos might be able to distinguish visually identical objects that differ in weight.To test this, the researchers first let eight cockatoos use their beaks to pick up and assess the weight of purple and blue coloured spheres made of modelling clay wrapped around a fishing weight or a cotton ball and, when an experimenter instructed, they had to place each sphere in a transparent dish to receive a sunflower seed reward. Then the researchers trained them to distinguish between the clay spheres by picking up the heavier (or the lighter) of the two and placing it in a black dish, in return for a cashew nut reward and some verbal praise. After that, the team made the task more difficult, by making both spheres grey and thus visually identical. If the birds could genuinely tell the clay spheres apart by weight alone, then they wouldn't find it difficult to still pick out the heavier of the two grey spheres.As the researchers predicted, the cockatoos correctly picked out the heavier of the two clay spheres with their beaks and placed them in a box that an experimenter presented, irrespective of whether the spheres differed in colour. If a cockatoo chose wrongly, the experimenter said, ‘nein’ (no) and the bird had to wait for 30 seconds before attempting another trial. Remarkably, the cockatoos could learn to differentiate objects based on weight after only 60 trials, faster than primates, which can take around 895 trials to learn a similar task. This is probably because birds need to be more sensitive to weight; flight is an energy-demanding task and so the animals need to be sure whether they have enough power to take off with a heavy burden.Thanks to Lambert, Stiegler and colleagues, cockatoos now join the ranks of animals, including monkeys and chimpanzees, that can learn to discriminate quickly between visually identical objects based on weight alone; and they do so despite their dramatically different lifestyles. The research highlights that the phrase ‘birdbrained’ is not as insulting as some people might think.

Praise as Classroom Communicative Reinforcing Device: Perceptions of Vietnamese University Students

One of the biggest challenges for teachers is to foster a positive learning environment in which students become motivated and engaged in classroom activities. Growing concerns have been shown about how evaluative praise functioned as a good reinforcer for students' achievement and desirable behaviour affects students' motivation to learn, depending on teachers' messages communicated with students. This study examined the impacts of different types of teacher praise upon university students' perceptions. Case study was employed to collect the data through observations and semi-structured interviews. The results highlighted that students perceived differently towards kinds of praise that they earned. They tended to respond to specific, verbal praise in a more positive way because of its explicit recognition and precise information about their contributions, hence it could make better their self-concept as well as help them keep motivated. Also, high-achievers sought for ability praise whereas low-achievers desired to draw effort praise from teachers. Educators would benefit these findings for the pedagogical purposes.

“Bravo!”: Co-constructing praise in French family life

Children and praise is an under-researched area that is addressed in this study, which explores in detail praise sequences in parent-child interaction in French family life (45 h; video). Language socialization practices (Ochs & Schieffelin, 1989, 2012) are analyzed in verbal praise sequences, including response cries – like ‘ouais’, ‘bravo’, ‘oh là là’ – and audible glee (Goffman, 1978) as well as what we have called glee gestures (e.g. applauds, victory gestures). Work in conversation analysis has shown that adults avoid self-praise. This study extends prior work on praise, showing that young children (toddlers) recurrently deployed self-praise. Moreover, they engaged in role reversal play, when recycling adults' praise. They talked to themselves, using prior praise like mantras, when engaging in demanding novel tasks and they smiled and laughed in self-celebration. The findings contribute to language socialization theory in showing that children's self-praise was linked to adult praise and to scaffolding and joyful emotion sharing. Praise was co-construed and upgraded through an array of resources, and the children's actions were sequentially transformed into accomplishments. In its multimodal enactment, praise may change ordinary actions into extraordinary feats, momentarily transforming little children into the celebrated heroes of family life.

"Errorless" Toilet Training: "The Potty Party"

The current study describes the use of a procedure called the party, an all-day toilet training method using basic learning principles of “errorless” discrimination with 3 children with incontinence diagnosed with autism. At the start of treatment days, each participant was greeted and prompted to request the bathroom. After the child requested the bathroom, they were taken to the restroom, pants and underpants were removed, the child was seated on the toilet. While on-seat, participants were given liquids, less-preferred reinforcers and engaged in typical daily activities such as discrete trial training. When the child voided in the toilet, specific verbal praise and highly preferred edible reinforcers were delivered. The child was also given time off the toilet with their most preferred toys or items/activities. Time off-toilet subsequently increased with each in-toilet urination until the participants were spending the same amount of time off-toilet, out-of-bathroom, and in the classroom as their peers. Results for all three participants using 3 non-concurrent A-B phase designs indicated that the potty party procedure was effective in decreasing accidents to zero levels for all three participants and increased in-toilet urination for two. Future directions for research in toileting are discussed.

IPad® Video Prompting to Teach Cooking Tasks to Korean American Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder

In response to the growing necessity for considering the cultural and contextual needs of youth with disabilities in experimental studies, this study examines the effectiveness of an intervention package consisting of video prompting with a system of least prompts and reinforcement on Korean American adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Through the replication of procedures used in a study by Mechling et al. (2008), the current study examined the effects of self-directed video prompting with a system of least prompts and verbal praise on completion of three preferred cooking tasks by three Korean American male adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. A single-case multiple probe design replicated across three cooking tasks was used. Results indicated the correct completion of multi-step cooking tasks increased with the intervention package and was maintained seven weeks following intervention across three participants. Discussion and implications for future research and practice are presented.

An Evaluation of a Game-Based Treatment Package on Intraverbals in Young Children with Autism.

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate a game-based treatment package on the acquisition of intraverbals in young children with autism. The treatment package was composed of using a listener response training game (i.e., bingo), providing verbal praise that contained the label for the listener response, and modeling a pretend play action related to the answer. During posttreatment probes, participants vocally answered wh- questions without any supplementary stimuli present and maintained responses during follow-up probes.

P66 Feasibility, Acceptability and Effectiveness of ‘Read for Nutrition’ Program in Childcare Settings

Objective To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of ‘Read for Nutrition’ program in childcare providers and effectiveness of the program on children's preference and consumption of a target, commonly disliked vegetable (broccoli) in childcare settings. Use of Theory or Research The ‘Read for Nutrition’ program is based on the Adult Learning theory. The program includes research-based strategies for improving children's preference and consumption of vegetables in the childcare settings via interactive shared reading while implementing enthusiastic role modeling, engaging children's senses and verbal praise. Target Audience Childcare providers (n = 16) caring for preschool children ages 3-5 years old. Program Description The ‘Read for Nutrition’ is a three-week professional development program consisting of a reading component (lesson) and coaching component. In this program, childcare providers read a lesson that provides them with a roadmap for applying the strategies and received two one-on-one coaching sessions. Participants were asked to implement the strategies while reading the book “Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli” multiple times with children during the program. Evaluation Methods Feasibility and acceptability using a self-report survey. Survey questions included enjoyment, ease of implementation and integration of the strategies described in the program with existing curriculum, and childcare providers perceived effectiveness of the strategies. Effectiveness was evaluated by measuring children's preference and consumption of broccoli. Results Children's preference for broccoli increased significantly after the program (t = 2.217, P = .03). Also, proportional consumption of broccoli increased for children who have received five or more exposures to the book reading experience (n = 47) (t = 2.765; P = .008). Number of exposures to the book was a significant predictor for proportional consumption of broccoli (β = .304, P = .006). Conclusions The program was perceived as feasible and acceptable by the providers. Furthermore, they were willing to use these strategies in their existing curriculum. Funding USDA NIFA, Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station.

Parental Rewards for Children’s Physical Activity: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis

School-based intervention studies have used rewards to promote physical activity (PA) in children. However, little research has examined parental incentivization of children’s PA including reasons and types of rewards. PURPOSE: To investigate parent-selected rewards for children’s PA in terms of prevalence, type, and motivation to incentivize or not. METHODS: Parents (N=90, mean±SD; 39.3±6.0 y) of children (8.7±2.1 y) completed a web-based survey that included items regarding moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA, min·week-1), use of PA rewards, and demographic characteristics. Open-ended questions were used to determine the type of activity rewarded, type of reward given, and parents’ reasoning for not using PA rewards. Independent sample t-tests were used to determine differences between reward groups (reward, no reward) and parent-reported children’s MVPA. Qualitative data underwent content and thematic analysis. RESULTS: Over half (55%) of the respondents provided PA rewards. There was no significant difference between reward groups for MVPA (reward: 321±195 min·week-1; no reward: 344±180 min·week-1; t(88)=0.862, p>0.05). Two underlying themes as to why parents did not give rewards were deemed “Expectation” (e.g. being active is expected, should be part of everyday life) and “Intrinsic Motivation” (e.g. already active, already enjoy PA). Rewarded PA’s were thematized as “Non-Exercise” (e.g. chores, good behavior, homework), “Sport” (e.g. performance, participation/effort), and “Non-Sport Activity” (outdoor play, structured PA, bike riding, miscellaneous PA). There were two themes for types of rewards including “Tangible” (e.g. money, food, other) and “Non-Tangible” (e.g. verbal praise, electronic time, family activities). CONCLUSION: Rewarding children’s PA is prevalent within this sample of parents. Substantial variety exists regarding the type of PA incentivized and the type of reward provided. Motivations should be further explored to inform intervention design.

Human resource management motivational strategies for enhancing business educators’ job performance in tertiary institutions in Edo and Delta states, Nigeria

The study assessed human resource management strategies for enhancing employees’ motivation in Edo State. Four research questions guided the study. The study size was 182 business educators in tertiary institutions in Edo and Delta States. The descriptive survey design was used for this study. The instrument used was validated by three experts. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation coefficient was used to compute reliability of the instrument which yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.71. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Means were used to answer all the research questions. From the results of the analysis, it was discovered that employers empowered their employees to very low extent; employers rewarded their employees to high extent; employers redesigned employees’ jobs to low extent, and employers created flexible jobs for their employees to low extent respectively. Consequently, it was recommended that workers should be sufficiently empowered to enhance higher performance and more productive. This will also go a long way to reduce attrition rate, the use of verbal praise, allowing workers’ personal development should be given priority attention by management to enhance higher productivity, management should redesign tasks/jobs from time to time so as to enhance motivation, job satisfaction, commitment to reduce absenteeism and turnover, among others.

MENINGKATKAN HASIL BELAJAR MATEMATIKA SISWA DENGAN MENGGUNAKAN MODEL PEMBELAJARAN KOOPERATIF TIPE THINK-PAIR-SHARE (TPS) PADA SISWA KELAS VB SD MUHAMMADIYAH I SORONG

Abstract This research aims to describe the Cooperative Learning Model Type Think-Pair-Share (TPS) that can improve students' mathematics learning outcomes. The research was conducted in sorong. The subject of this research was fifth grade class B at SD Muhammadiyah I Sorong in academic year 2010/2011. The students consist of 14 males and 24 females. The research was Classroom Action Research (PTK). The procedure and Implementation at the study site was divided into two cycles. In the first cycle performed four times of implementation by using Cooperative Learning Model Type Think-Pair-Share (TPS). The second cycle took four times with the same model. The observations took with the observation sheet has been prepared, and then reflected by writer and teacher to evaluate the research that has been run on each cycle and to improve the implementation of the next cycle. The technique of data collection was done by using observation and tests. The data were performed with qualitative and quantitative analysis. The results of this study indicate that students' mathematics learning outcomes at SD Muhammadiyah I fifth grade class B increases. At the beginning of test the average was 5,40 and at the end of the first cycle mean score was 5.84. Being at the end of second cycle the average was of 8,09. The action did to stimulate the students' attention by giving preliminary description of matter at the beginning of the meeting, the student group discussions and presentations, providing competition, growing students’ curiosity by implementing the Cooperative Learning Model Type Think-Pair-Share (TPS). Giving the relevance of study based on students' experience and providing them the example that is relevant to students. To increase the students self confidence was done by giving them the opportunity to answer questions and write them down in front, giving verbal praise who are successful, providing the opportunity to the group to present the result of discussion, and provide feedback. To increase student satisfaction with verbal praise who are successful, notify the student test results obtained, and giving appropriate rewards and not excessive.

Commentary on "Developmental Trajectories and Reference Percentiles for the 6-Minute Walk Test for Children With Cerebral Palsy".

“How should I apply this information?” This study is a secondary analysis of 2 large, high-quality longitudinal datasets tracking the developmental trajectories of children with cerebral palsy (CP). The study's results suggest that individual children's 6-minute walk test (6MWT) performance can vary vastly at different time points, and still be interpreted as “progressing as expected.” Thus, it is not clear how the test provides meaningful information for children, their families, or clinicians. The high degree of intrachild variability over time is surprising, and it is unclear what is contributing to this. It is possible that the study's 6MWT administration procedure (which differed from conventional 6MWT protocols in the lack of a practice walk, lack of standardized verbal praise, and use of creativity to achieve compliance) and child factors (eg, pain, fitness, fatigue, or motivation) may be contributing. “What should I be mindful about when applying this information?” Giving children and parents messages-relating performance to percentiles has the potential to be a negative experience, particularly if children's performance places them below average. Children with CP have motor delays in comparison to their peers, and being told they are also behind their comparable CP peers may be demoralizing. Based on the information presented, incorporating the 6MWT into clinical practice is of limited benefit, and does not justify the time/effort and possible harms. The study focuses on using the 6MWT to predict future 6MWT performance. The 6MWT may be a more useful prognostic tool if its performance can be shown to reliably predict other more clinically useful outcomes. Carol Maher, BPT (Hons), PhD University of South Australia Adelaide, Australia Kerrie Kuszczakowski, BPT Novita Children's Services Adelaide, Australia

The Effectiveness of a Packaged Intervention Including Point-of-View Video Modeling in Teaching Social Initiation Skills to Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Deficits in social communication and interaction have been identified as distinguishing impairments for individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As a pivotal skill, the successful development of social communication and interaction in individuals with ASD is a lifelong objective. Point-of-view video modeling (VM) has the potential to address these deficits. By presenting only what a person might see from his or her viewpoint, it may be more effective than other forms of VM, in limiting irrelevant stimuli and providing a clear frame of reference to facilitate imitation. The current study investigated the use of point-of-view VM in teaching social initiations (e.g., greetings). Using a multiple baseline across participants design, five kindergarten participants were taught greetings using a packaged intervention, which included point-of-view VM, video priming, verbal praise, reinforcement, and prompting. Immediately before and after viewing the entire point-of-view video model, the participants were evaluated on their greetings with a trained, typically developing peer serving as a communication partner. Specifically, the greetings involved participants’ abilities to shift their attention toward the peer who entered the room, maintain attention toward the peer, and engage in an appropriate greeting (e.g., hi, hello). Both generalization and maintenance were tested. Overall, the data suggest point-of-view VM is a promising intervention for increasing greetings. However, both generalization and maintenance were limited. Despite the limitations of the study and variable results, there are a number of implications moving forward for both practitioners and future researchers examining point-of-view modeling.

Effects of English versus heritage language on play in bilingually exposed children with autism spectrum disorder

AbstractAn alternating treatments design was used to assess the effects of the language of instruction (English vs. heritage language) on the play skills of four bilingually exposed children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Baseline consisted of 5‐min free‐play sessions conducted in English. Intervention consisted of two alternating conditions: 5‐min play sessions conducted in English or the participant's heritage language. During intervention, a play‐related instruction, comment, and verbal praise were made every 30 s. Results demonstrated that participants displayed more play behaviors in the heritage language than English condition. Ancillary data for one participant indicated that the occurrence of challenging behavior was lower in the heritage language condition. Results are discussed in terms of the inclusion of heritage languages in interventions for children with ASD.

Child discipline and violence in Nigeria: A community‐based intervention programme to reduce violent discipline and other forms of negative parenting practices

Despite the growing research that demonstrates that the use of corporal punishment with children is harmful, many Nigerian parents still utilise such methods without realising the implications. Because of lack of a strong evidence‐based programme to serve local needs, we developed a community‐based parenting education programme (PEP) to help parents reduce violent discipline and learn more positive strategies of dealing with children. Using a quasi‐experimental design in which six communities were selected from different regions across Nigeria, three as the intervention and three as the control, we tested the effectiveness of the programme with 300 parents of children aged 3–12. Parents in the intervention communities (n = 150) were exposed to 8‐week PEP intervention session on a 2‐hour weekly basis. Parents in the control communities (n = 150) were given a placebo treatment. Data were collected through questionnaires and observation. Findings revealed positive changes in parental beliefs, attitudes and practices about child‐rearing. Significant reductions were observed in the frequency with which parents used corporal punishment, and adopting more positive methods in dealing with their children including verbal praise and redirecting; a feat that was lacking prior to intervention. Effect sizes associated with the gains in parental outcomes were in the medium to large range (0.62—0.84). Comparison of means of pre‐, post‐ and delayed intervention measures showed greater gains by the intervention group. These findings provided empirical support for wider implementation of the PEP programme, which would help many more parents become more effective in their parenting in ways that support their children's optimal development.