The Family Resource Center (FRC) is involved in research in the community to inform prevention and intervention services and improve the lives of families.

Current Projects

Currently, the FRC is engaged in two family-related research projects. Students are involved in the collection and analysis of data in both projects.

Children's Experience of Hospitalization

What are the experiences of children and their families during child hospitalization?

How do parents' parenting practices, relationships, and mental health influence children's experience of hospitalization? 

In what ways do service providers support children and their families during hospitalization?

Do children and parents who receive child life services have different experiences than children who do not receive child life services?

We're interested in learning more about children's experience during hospitalization and what service providers can do to best support children and their families while they're in the hospital. We are collecting data from hospitalized children and their families at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma, WA. We are using a mixed-method design to conduct information about children and parents' experiences during hospitalization as well as specific services that help to relieve children and parents' stress and anxiety. We're specifically interested in whether child life services are helpful to children and families in terms of reducing their stress and anxiety and improving their coping behaviors.

Effectiveness of Parenting Education

Is attending the FRC parenting education program associated with changes in children's behaviors, and parents' parenting practices, mental health, and relationship outcomes?

We're interested in whether the parenting education courses that we offer through the FRC are actually helping families. We use an empirically-supported parenting education curriculum, the Incredible Years program, which means that the program has been evaluated in many research studies and found to be effective.

However, we want to ensure that our use of the program in a community-setting and delivered through a university resource center is equally effective for families. We're examining whether attending the program is associated with improved child behaviors, positive changes in parenting practices and parent mental health, and healthy parent relationship processes. 

To learn more about our current research projects, please contact Dr. Amy Claridge.