Family Care Curriculum Is Subject of Research at Drexel

Karen Hudson, MSW, LSW, with the Homeless Health Initiative (HHI), continued her participation with the Family Care Curriculum (FCC), a train-the-trainer parenting training model. FCC was designed for lay professionals to teach families in homeless shelters parenting skills rooted in attitudinal changes rather than strict behavioral changes. Hudson and long-time HHI supporter and volunteer Sandy Sheller co-developed FCC, which promotes principles of self-care and is culturally competent, trauma informed and attachment based.

Since its creation in 2009, FCC has been shared with providers in shelters across Philadelphia and at regional and national conferences. FCC has shown some statistical evidence of changing parental attitudes and behavior. The parenting model has been facilitated with great consistency by the Drueding Center, whose staff lead approximately three series a year. Sheller and Hudson also conducted one FCC training in 2017 for 20 people.

The pair has been working for the past year with Drexel University researchers Stephanie Ewing Krauthamer, PhD, MPH, Jamie Slaughter-Acey, PhD, MPH, and Joan Bloch, PhD, CRNP. As part of this new collaboration, the team hopes to further develop the Family Care Curriculum, write a grant for program development and conduct additional research on the model. The group will create appropriate tools to assess trainers, helping Sheller and Hudson identify who will be better FCC facilitators.