Exporting a Canadian parenting education program to the Dominican Republic

The framework of a Canadian-developed parent education program, Nobody's Perfect, was used in the development of a new parent education program offered to parents attending a child nutrition rehabilitation program in the Dominican Republic. While key teaching elements of the original program were retained (e.g., encouraging active participation, emphasizing facilitation over didactic teaching, using experiential learning), locally relevant content was inserted (e.g., diarrhea prevention and treatment strategies). A Canadian team trained a group of Dominicans to deliver the new program to parents of children recovering from malnutrition. This paper describes the development, implementation, and resulting parenting program from this effort. This 8-week program may find use in other settings. In addition, the experience gained from this exportation endeavor may be useful for others undertaking similar initiatives.