Evaluation of impact of the Programme scolaire adapté pour les mères adolescentes et leur enfant (PSAME) on parental skills and academic development: Preliminary results
This article presents preliminary results of an evaluation of impact of the Programme scolaire adapté pour les mères adolescentes et leur enfant (PSAME), a program which favors the success of the adolescent mothers by facilitating school perseverance and graduation. Furhermore, the program reinforces socialization skills, the acquisition of parental skills and the healthy development of their child. Twenty young mothers participating in this program were first evaluated in terms of the level of their parental skills with a French version modified by the Parent Attitude Questionnaire ( PAQ) of Sommer, Whitman, Borkowski, Schellenbach, Maxwell and Keogh (1993) and with the French version of Knowledge of infant Developement Inventory (KIDI) of MacPhee (1981). Then, an evaluation of their academic development was conducted with the Questionnaire of autodescription (QAD II) of Marsh (1990) and with the examination of their school results for the following subjects: French, mathematics and English; upon their arrival at the PSAME program (T1) and then, one year after having participated in the program (PSAME) (T2). The obtained results bring to light a significant positive effect in terms of a complete school year at the PSAME for five of the seven scales examining parental skills as well as a significant positive effect on the progressive success regarding the academic results obtained in French. The discussion concerns the precariousness of the results and the social reach of a program such as the PSAME.