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Estos calendarios de actividades incluyen consejos diarios para ayudar a poner los factores de protección en práctica con familias. Cada día de la semana corresponde a uno de los factores de protección. Las actividades fueron enviadas por sitios locales de Strengthening Families.These activity calendars include daily tips to help put protective factors into action with families. Each day of the week corresponds to one of the protective factors. The activities were submitted by local Strengthening Families sites.

As part of the national evaluation of family support programs mandated by the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1993, the Administration on Children, Youth and Families contracted with Abt Associates Inc. to conduct a meta-analysis of existing research about the effectiveness of different types of programs and the impact of services on families with a variety of needs and characteristics. The meta-analysis provides a statistical summary of 665 studies of 260 programs. In general, the findings revealed that family support services resulted in slight improvements in some outcomes. However, existing research has not identified one model that is effective for all groups of people. The majority of programs did not have a significant impact on parents' knowledge about child development, their attitudes about child rearing, or family functioning. The most effective programs used a group approach for parent education and support and targeted specific types of families. Professional staff achieved greater success than paraprofessional staff. Direct services to children had greater impact on cognitive development than parent education. Positive effects also were found for services that were directed toward teen mothers with young children, families with children who have special needs, and families with children who have behavior problems. The meta-analysis concludes that program administrators and policymakers should review the assumptions of current programs and identify approaches that will improve the effectiveness of family support services. The report details the methodology of the meta-analysis and the characteristics of the programs and studies. 26 references, numerous figures and tables.