Improving Parental Attitudes of Turkish Immigrants Living in Germany: An Action Research

Authors : Osman Nejat Akfirat

Pages : 103-121

Doi:10.17275/per.19.16.6.2

View : 28 | Download : 31

Publication Date : 2019-12-01

Article Type : Research

Abstract :This study, which aims to improve the parental attitudes of Turkish immigrants living in Germany, is designed as an action research. During the study, the managers of the Turkish School-Parents Unions and 37 teachers giving courses to Turkish students living in Germany were interviewed, and the needs of immigrant Turkish parents for child rearing were determined. In line with these needs, a family education program was revised. The program was applied on 602 parents in 34 different group studies. Research data were collected through the letters of the participants of an eight-session program and a group of 26 people by forming a focus group interview held 2 years after the training. Data were analyzed through content analysis and descriptive analysis. According to data obtained after the completion of the family education program, the parents stated that they acquired valuable information on dealing with negative behaviors of their children,  on becoming prepared for conflict resolution, anger control, and on getting effective behaviour in planning their children's future.   During the monitoring phase of the study, the participants stated that they continued to display their acquired behaviour in terms of autonomy, communication skills, interpersonal parental communication and of democratic parental attitudes.
Keywords : Family education, Turkish Immigrants in Germany, Parental attitude, Action research, Immigrant families