A SINGLE MOTHERS GROUP FOR MOTHERS OF CHILDREN ATTENDING AN OUTPATIENT PSYCHIATRIC CLINIC - PRELIMINARY-RESULTS

Objectives: To provide a preliminary report of data from 2 support gro ups for single mothers, all of whom were mothers of children attending a child outpatient psychiatric clinic. The groups' 2 purposes were: 1 . to assess the feasibility of adding structured evaluation to a commo n clinical intervention; 2. to improve single mothers' parenting skill s through raised levels of self-esteem, increased capacity for family functioning and reduced levels of depression. Method: Three structured evaluation instruments were used to measure the domains of self-estee m, family functioning and depression. These instruments were given to both groups of women on 3 occasions: 1. before the group, 2. after the group; 3. at a follow-up session 4 months after group termination. Op en-ended questions were also asked at group termination. Results: The questionnaire response rate was 100%; overall response rate for the 3 open-ended questions was 89%. Comparisons of pre-group and post-group scores showed that there was a significant increase in self-esteem (p < 0.01) and significant improvements in family functioning (p < 0.05) and depression (p < 0.01). Conclusion: If is possible to introduce a s tructured evaluation component into a common clinical intervention, an d this support group seemed to assist single mothers' parenting skills . Methodologic concerns and future directions are discussed.