THE INDONESIAN MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE WILL SOON BE OFFERING TRIPLE P SEMINARS TO PARENTS IN EIGHT REGIONS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

Last week, 17 professionals from the Ministry’s Early Childhood and Community Education (ECCE) Regional Centres attended training at Triple P International head office in Brisbane, Australia, and returned home accredited Triple P practitioners.

They represented centres in North Sumatra, Central Java, East Java, West Java, South Sulawesi, South Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara and Papua, as well as the Bureau of Law and Human Resources in Jakarta.

The ECCE centres will offer the Triple P Seminar Series, delivered in Indonesian, to parents in two age-related groupings – for parents of children up to six years, and parents of elementary school children (6-12 years).

 Aniek Sugiyanti, who will be the local Triple P coordinator of the pilot program, said while parenting programs aren’t new to Indonesia, Triple P’s approach was different in that it encouraged parents to solve problems independently.

“One of the new strategies we learnt is Triple P is self-regulation, which is not common in Indonesia,” Ms Sugiyanti said.

“When parents have problems with their children (in Indonesia), we give them the solutions.  Here, with Triple P, it’s very different because parents will get to the solutions themselves. The practitioner will give them prompts.”

Earlier this year, results of a randomized controlled trial into the effects of Triple P seminars with Indonesian parents was published in  Child Psychiatry and Human Development.

The trial, involving 143 parents in Surabaya, showed the Triple P Seminar Series could improve children’s behavioural problems and parents’ confidence while reducing dysfunctional parenting practices and parents’ stress.

It was the first study to show that an evidence-based parenting program could be both effective and culturally acceptable for Indonesian parents.

Triple P was originally developed in Queensland by Professor Matt Sanders and his colleagues at the Parenting and Family Support Centre, University of Queensland.  It is now used in more than 25 countries and has been translated from English into 19 other languages.

It is available free to parents and carers throughout Queensland.   

 Pictured: Indonesia's newly-accredited Triple P providers with Triple P International staff and trainers in Brisbane last week.