Emerging Results from Shift’s ConnectED Parents Project

Date: October 23rd, 2024

Adolescent dating violence is a strong predictor that someone will experience adult domestic violence later in life. By promoting healthy relationship behaviours in adolescents, we can stop the cycle of violence before it starts.

The ConnectED Parents project from Shift: The Project to End Domestic Violence is taking an innovative new approach to preventing adolescent dating violence. Funded with the support of the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Government of Alberta, ConnectED Parents is engaging with parents and meeting families where they are through three targeted interventions:

(1) using text messaging as an accessible delivery method that integrates into parents’ daily lives;

(2) empowering parent leaders to provide peer support; and

(3) partnering with community leaders in spaces where parents naturally spend their time to build healthy environments.

By supporting parents and caregivers to develop healthy relationship skills in their children, we are enhancing the capacity of young people to navigate consent, conflict resolution, boundary-setting, and more. Building these skills is a powerful way to prevent violence before it happens, and ConnectED Parents is supporting parents with the knowledge to guide them through these crucial conversations with their children.

The project currently has four streams that test and evaluate ConnectED Parents Plus (the full intervention) and ConnectED Parents Text (the text component only) to understand what forms of support are most helpful for parents and why.

ConnectED Parents Plus: Utilizing all three interventions

Parenting Facebook Group: Shift facilitates this online space, providing opportunities for participants to engage in meaningful discussions and share resources that support parenting practices. Parent leaders in the Facebook group are matched with other parents to offer support, and all parents receive the text-learning modules.
Partnership with Centre for Sexuality: Parents whose children are engaged in the Centre’s school and community-based ‘Girls Program’ receive access to all three interventions involved in ConnectED Parents.

ConnectED Parents Text: Focusing on text-based intervention

Parents across Canada: Shift engages parents and caregivers nationwide, providing text-learning modules that offer on-the-go access to valuable information about building healthy relationships with their children.
Partnership with the Government of Alberta and Family Resource Networks: Parents who already access government-funded resources and support are provided access to the ConnectED Parents text-learning modules.

As we approach March 2025, the ConnectED Parents project will transition toward a focus on data analysis and evaluation. As we collect feedback from parents and conduct an initial analysis to assess the project’s impact, we are excited about the potential of the project to make a lasting impact on families across Canada.

Early Findings and Key Accomplishments:

Since its launch in February 2024, the ConnectED Parents project has engaged over 220 parents, caregivers, and service provider leaders across Canada;
Initial feedback from parents and caregivers suggests that the ConnectED Parents project is increasing their knowledge and skills around promoting healthy relationship skills in their children;
Participants have especially provided positive feedback on the text-learning modules and the parenting Facebook group, noting that these resources are accessible, responsive to their busy schedules, and provide valuable information that enhances their parenting practices.

Associated Resources: