This document outlines a dissertation proposal on developing an intervention program to improve foster parents' knowledge and practices around promoting attachment with children in their care. It provides background on the foster care system and issues children often face. A literature review discusses research showing a lack of secure attachment can negatively impact children's outcomes and increase placement disruption. Previous interventions have focused on the child-parent relationship but have not sufficiently trained foster parents. The proposed study would develop and evaluate a 12-session program to enhance foster parents' attachment-related knowledge and practices.

1. DISSERTATION PROPOSAL PRO FORMA
FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY & CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATION/APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY PROGRAMMES
Title
Educating Foster Parents to Enhance Knowledge of Assessment
Comment by Angel: Assessment? What do you mean?
What about:
An intervention programme to promote attachement-related
practices
Enhancing parental practices: A workshop to improve practices
which promote attachment
Educating foster parents: improving parental practices to
promote attachment.
I don’t know…think about it ok?
Introduction and Background
Foster care is a temporary care-giving service for children who
have been removed from their parent and/or guardian’s
household to protect their survival, safety, and developmental
needs (Mulcahy & Trocme, 2010). Relatives and/or non-
relatives of the child can provide foster caregiving services and
become their foster parents. Placing the children under the care
of a relative is called kinship care (Hong, Algood, Chiu, & Lee,
2011). Group homes are residential settings that can be
treatment-focused or a temporary placement for a child waiting
for a foster home. These organizations have various individuals
involved to support youth in their treatment and/or transitions.
Foster, kinship, and group homes are the middle ground during

2. which the biological parent(s) can take action towards the
reason for child removal, to create a safe and nurturing
environment for their child. If the parent is unsuccessful in
creating the necessary conditions required for positive child
development, then the child can be put up for adoption or be
placed in long-term foster care (PHAC, 2010).
Canada reports statistics provincially because of the differing
definitions of the requirements of placing children in foster care
(PHAC, 2010). In 2008, there were an estimated 235,842 child
maltreatment investigations, of which 85,440 were
substantiated, resulting in 14.19 investigations per 1000
children (PHAC, 2010). Of the substantiated cases, 19.599
children were required to be removed from the current
residences (PHAC, 2010). In addition, 82% of substantiated
cases reported one type of maltreatment with physical abuse
being the most frequent, whereas the remaining 18% reported
more than one type of maltreatment - with neglect and exposure
to intimate partner violence being the most frequent (PHAC,
2010). Public Health Agency of Canada (2010) reported
exposure to intimate partner violence (34%) and neglect (34%)
as the most frequent grounds for removal, followed by physical
abuse (20%), emotional maltreatment (9%), and sexual abuse
(3%). Public Health Agency of Canada identifies 46% of the
children reported functioning issues: Academic difficulty
(23%), internalizing disorders (19%), externalizing disorders
(15%), attachment issues (14%), and/or academic and
development disabilities (11%).
Children in foster care have experienced maltreatment in the
form of neglect, abuse, and/or trauma. These children are
removed from the current living circumstances in the hope to
provide a better and safe environment to support their
development. These children are a vulnerable population due to
their experiences. Many children exhibit maladaptive
behaviour, mental health concerns, and disruption in foster care
placement (Rincon-Cortes & Sullivan, 2014; Scott, 2011). A

3. protective factor noted for children in foster care is the
development of a secure relationship (Rincon-Cortes &
Sullivan, 2014; Scott, 2011). A protective factor as mentioned
in this particular literature on adequate child development is the
bond created between the child and its caregivers such as the
parents. Research shows that for this emotional bond to grow, it
has to be established in a safe environment (Porges, S. W.
(2003)). When a child does not experience the protective factor
and is exposed to violence and abuse, the emotional bonds are
adversely affected negatively (Porges, S. W. (2003)). Children
foster care plays a crucial role to ascertain the children’s well-
being. Therefore, in this way, it is essential for the new bond to
develop an attachment base during which the child feels
protected, safe, a sense of belonging, and is emotionally
understood within, therefore promoting the development of a
secure relationship (Scott, 2011). Creating a secure relationship
earlier can buffer negative effects of being in foster care
(Rincon-Cortes & Sullivan, 2014). Children in foster care have
experienced disruptions in attachment with their caregiver(s) or
parents due to failure in fulfilling necessities.
The disruption influences their ability to form attachment with
new parents. Without the development of a secure relationship,
youth are put in a vulnerable position in which they feel lost,
unsupported, and isolated; therefore, increasing their risk of
negative mental health, problematic behaviour, placement
disruption, loneliness, homelessness, poverty, and conflict with
the law (Leve, Harold, Chamberlain, Landsverk, Fisher, &
Vostanis, 2012; OCYA, 2013; Rincon-Cortes, 2014). This study
seeks to explore the extent to which this 12-session programme
provides and improves attachment-related knowledge and
practices in foster parents on building attachment with the
children, something which various existent attachment-based
interventions such as Child-Centered Psychotherapy, Child-
Parent Relational Therapy and Connect (Rincon-Cortes &
Sullivan, 2014; Scott, 2011) have failed to provide emotional

4. attachment. The existing interventions have failed to provide
attachment-related knowledge because they have not carried out
proper research on the subject matter. The population affected
by Canadian foster care is important in the field of psychology
due to the vast number of families involved. Individuals within
these families are provided opportunities to enhance mental
health to live their lives to the fullest, provide adequate care,
validate past experiences, and empowerment to create a
successful future. Comment by Angel: This sounds great!!!
However, I think that it needs a little bit of work in terms of
semantics. Re-word it. Or perhaps it is just me. But I would
only change the last bit….”have failed to provide emotional
attachment”??
What do you mean?
Have failed to provide emotional attachment strategies?
Practices? Training? Evidence?
Just think the way in which you can end this amazing paragraph
in a nice and convincing way ok? Comment by Angel: Whilst
this might be a good idea, I am not sure whether you have
enough evidence to support this. So…in short….you might need
to provide evidence -perhaps before this paragraph- to support
the idea that previous interventions and thus
scholars/researchers have not researched well into this
topic…which sounds quite dangerous to state UNLESS you have
evidence. Why are you saying that? Or perhaps It is not that
they have not researched, but rather that they have not gathered
enough data to suggest that their interventions worked? Or did
not work? You will have to base and complement these ideas I
am giving with the literature you reviewed.
This research seeks to explore effectiveness of a 12-session
programme in improving parents’ knowledge and understanding
with regard to attachment. Thus leading to the research
question: could a 12-session programme improve parent’s
knowledge and understanding with regard to attachment?
Literature Review

5. The foster care has been regarded with significant amount of
negative impact on it due to which there is scarcity of children
being enrolled in the foster care as compared to the children
being enrolled in other systems (AJ Litrownik, JA Landsverk -
Child abuse & neglect, 2000). The researches have provided
empirical evidence that many children in the foster care have
been regarded with significant maltreatment in terms of
physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological abuse (Leve,
Harold, Chamberlain, Landsverk, Fisher, & Vostanis, 2012;
Scott, 2011). Children are at a higher risk of performing poorly
in other domains of their life, (i.e. socio-emotional
development, academics, behavioural development, and
psychological development) due to the various events occurring
in their lives (Leve et al., 2012; PHAC, 2010; Scott, 2011). In
addition, they exhibit disruption in attachment with their
parents, guardians, siblings, and/or other relatives (PHAC,
2010) when the environment they grow in is unsafe. The lack of
ability to bond with others, results in greater placement
disruption, higher rates of internalizing disorders and
externalizing symptoms, neurological changes, thereby
hindering psychological development (Leve et al., 2012; PHAC,
2010). The transition to a foster home is a challenging
experience in which the infant, child, and/or adolescent has to
develop new relationships, adapt to a new culture, and move on
from past adversities (ACC, 2010). Unfortunately, some youth
continue to experience maltreatment within foster homes, which
makes this transition even more challenging (ACC, 2010).
Attachment Impacting Foster Placement. Lack of placements for
children in foster care has become a major concern in the
Canadian foster care system resulting in inadequate criminal
history record checks, fast process of placing a child in a home,
and overcrowding of foster households (The Canadian Press,
2012). Moreover, there have been traces of inadequate care
results in greater placement changes for youth, these are found
resulting in lack of attachment, mental health concerns,
problematic behaviour, academic struggles, and changes in

6. socio-emotional development among the children (Kim & Leve,
2011; Walker, 2008). Anderson (2009) noted that 70% of the
children in his study experienced placement instability where
frequent moves affect the children. Age and insecure attachment
were linked to greater placement instability. Greater placement
disruption is associated with negative outcomes for the youth as
it demonstrates continuous disruption in the care-giving system
and changes within the child’s atmosphere (Khoo & Skoog,
2014; Leve et al., 2013).
Research on placement disruption (this is exiting the current
placement for a negative reason) focuses on children in foster
care, neglecting role of foster caregivers in contributing to
placement disruption (Khoo & Skoog, 2014). Specifically, past
research notes placement disruption due to the age of the child,
problematic behaviour, and past experiences (Khoo & Skoog,
2014). (MA Taber - Children and youth services review, 1985)
defined placement breakdown as as repeated moves among
foster care
placements, which reflect a pattern of reciprocal alienation and
rejection between a child
and successive caregivers. Placement breakdown is a result of a
series of events in which the child, biological parents, foster
caregivers, and social workers are involved (Khoo & Skoog,
2014). Khoo and Sjoog (2014) found in their study that, foster
caregivers noted that the lack of knowledge they possessed
about the biological family and the child; inadequate
understanding of their role; lack of support; stress associated
with being a foster caregiver; difficult experiences of and with
the child; complex needs of the child; and a poor relationship
with social worker, the child, and/or the biological family
hindered their ability to parent the child effectively, causing
strains within their lives and their relationships of all involved.
Developing secure attachment is associated with greater
placement stability as it allows the youth to develop meaningful
relationships in which one feels loved, safe, accepted, and a
sense of belonging (Leve et al., 2012).

7. Children in foster care are in a jeopardized position primarily
due to the presence of multiple caregivers in multiple
placements hindering their ability to develop an attachment
bond with a primary caregiver (Hong et al., 2011; Prather &
Golden, 2009). In addition, some caregivers who are committed
to developing a secure relationship with children in foster care
continue to face struggles in developing attachment, as these
children may be very hesitant due to their past experiences of
mistrust and safety (Oosterman & Schuengel, 2008; Prather &
Golden, 2009). Developing secure relationship may be easier
with younger children in comparison to older children.
Research continues to demonstrate the ability to form a secure
relationship when a child is placed in care before age-2 (Cornell
& Hamrin, 2008; Dozier et al., 2009; Ponciano, 2010, Scott,
2011). Struggles in developing attachment for older children
may be due to increased changes in attachment, longer
experiences with disrupted and/or disorganized attachment, and
internal working model that supports behaviour that restrict
attachment, and increased contact with various individuals who
aim to provide caregiving services. However, even children
younger than age-2 who have experienced disrupted attachment,
experience various detrimental changes that impact their ability
to develop attachment, such as neurological changes that are
shaped by experiences (Scott, 2011).
Can Attachment be built in Foster Care?
Building attachment within the foster home is a crucial task for
children and caregivers. Joseph, O’Connor, Briskman,
Maughan, and Scott (2014) assessed the hypothesis that past
attachment relationships influence attachment within future
relationships. More specifically, they noted children in foster
care to have exhibited past insecure relationship, thereby
limiting their ability to develop future secure relationship with
subsequent caregivers. Therefore, experiences with abuse would
be internalized by the child, influencing their perceptions of
self, others, relationships, and normality (Joseph et al., 2014).
Many of these adolescents had experienced multiple forms of

8. maltreatment, placement disruption, and problematic behaviour.
Joseph (2014) found 95% of adolescents in foster care exhibited
insecure attachment with their birth parents. However, 46% of
those adolescents were able to develop secure bond with their
foster mothers and 49% with their foster fathers. Those who
demonstrated secure attachment with their primary caregivers
also demonstrated secure attachment with their foster parents.
Adolescents who possessed secure attachment were younger
when they were taken into care, experienced parental
sensitivity, and had been in care for a longer period of time.
The development of a secure bond with foster families resulted
in fewer problematic behaviours and a greater sense of
belonging and acceptance. Recent research has noted that
attachment in foster care is crucial. Therefore, several
interventions have been put in place to encourage the
development of healthy attachment bonds.
Developing an intervention that works on the attachment
relationship between foster caregivers and foster children is
essential in promoting well-being of both parties. This in turn
assists these children in developing healthy patterns that can
assist them throughout their adulthood (Scott, 2011).
Interventions note parental sensitivity as a crucial element in
developing secure attachment. Parental sensitivity is a factor
associated with secure attachment due to the level of
commitment, delight, and emotional responsiveness towards a
relationship (Bick & Dozier, 2013; Joseph, O’Connor,
Briskman, Maughan, & Scott, 2014). Ponciano (2010) examined
the role of maternal sensitivity in the promotion of secure
attachment among 76 foster mothers and 58 foster children over
a 9-month period. (KE Gleason 1998) defined maternal
sensitivity as a mother's ability to perceive and infer the
meaning behind her infant's behavioural signals, and to respond
to them promptly and appropriately. Within the parent child
dyads, 58% were able to develop secure attachment, whereas
42% of the youth continued to be classified under insecure
attachment. The insecure attachment was caused by factors that

9. affected the youth when growing up. These factors included,
physical neglect, sexual abuse, separation from primary
caregiver inconsistency in primary caregiver, among others. The
parent-child dyads who were able to form secure attachment due
to enhanced maternal sensitivity, were more likely to have only
one-foster child, have fewer visits with biological parents, be
younger, feel supported, and be considered for adoption by the
same foster family (Ponciano, 2010).
Research has provided empirical evidence to suggest that
successful intervention needs to target various systems that
affect the child’s development, therefore, child-caregiver
relationship, solidarity among co-caregivers, sources of support,
culture of the client, developmental milestones, and effective
education and training (Cornell & Hamrin, 2008; Hong et al.,
2011). Interventions designed for foster parents need to provide
them the knowledge to assist the child in repairing their past
through acknowledgment, validation, and providing support to
the child (Cornell & Hamrin, 2008). Interventions that have
proven effective have mainly focus on understanding,
validating, and growing from past experiences that involve a
form of attachment between a primary caregiver and the child
(TM Levy - 1999). Approaches used in successful interventions
have included sessions ranging from play-therapy to psycho-
education and psychotherapy (Stinchart, Scott, & Barfield,
2012). Attachment-related interventions aim to enhance
attachment processes within families by changing dysfunctional
patterns to make the family interactions more functional (TM
Levy - 1999). A number of empirical studies have shown that
interventions with parents are an effective strategy to enhance
attachment within the family. These studies however have not
shown much focus on foster parents. The literature review that
forms a basis of empirical studies in this topic have mainly
focused on countries such as Australia, Argentina, Mongolia
and Iraq. There is however, no such research in Canada. The
situation in Canada currently with regards to foster care is of
great importance given that the country does not keep reliable

10. statistics on children but instead rely on provincial reporting.
This therefore calls for the need to pay great attention to the
appropriate long term strategy related to foster programmes
like; training foster parents in order to acquire appropriate
attachment-related parental practices in so as to improve
Canadian Foster Parents System. Further explore the
effectiveness of an intervention program of this nature in
Canada based on the12-session programme in improving
parents’ perception and understanding with regard to
attachment.
Research Question
Could a 12-session programme improve parent’s knowledge and
understanding with regard to attachment?
Aim(s) and Objectives
Aim:
The aim of this study is to explore effectiveness of a 12-session
programme in improving parents’ knowledge and understanding
with regard to attachment.
Objectives
· To explore parents’ perception with regard to parent-child
attachment prior to the workshop.
· To design, plan and facilitate a 12-session psycho-educational
programme
· To implement and facilitate the workshop Comment by
Angel: You already said this in the previous one
· To explore parents’ understanding with regard to attachment
after the workshop.
· To analyze the extent to which the workshop had an impact on
the foster parents’ perception. Comment by Angel: Knowledge
regarding attachment.
Methods
Design:
This study will follow a qualitative approach. This method is
the most preferred for its suitability in analysing quality of
contents in the respondents’ feedbacks by making use of pre-

11. post design methodology (Rummel & Bitchener, 2015). The
nature of the workshop will demand the use of open-ended
questions in most cases with some answers being exclusively
descriptive. The advantages of pre-post design is valuable to the
12-programe session workshop in that it illustrates as well as
documents individual knowledge gains of parents of the
workshop participants. Secondly, pre-test enables accurate
placement of participants upon entry to the workshop while
post-test does the same upon completion of the workshop.
Therefore, through pre-post design, the perception of the
parents before and after the process would be known which
would be helping in getting results required to determine how
effective the workshop for a 12-session programme was. While
the disadvantage of this design is that it is hard to conclude the
positive change in a pre and post-test due to learning in the
workshop or simply natural maturation Comment by Angel:
Great!! reference Comment by Angel: Are you going to have
different groups? For Placement?
Comment by Angel: This is a perfect sentence!!! Which is
actually your justification in the use of a pre-post design. You
must put this idea along with your decision to use a pre-post
design and put a reference ok? Just to make it stronger
Comment by Angel: Great!! But just end with an
advantage…follow this formula…
Whilst with this research design might be difficult to conclude
the whole impact of the workshop due to the impact of
confounding variables, it wil shed light…it will provide…it will
help discover…it will contribute…it will give evidence….etc
etc etc
Choose the best option ok? And re-worded it. Now, we are in
the phase of strengthen your arguments. Good job!!
(Joseph,O’Connor, Briskman, Maughan & Scott, 2014).
Second, due to the similar questions in pre-test, some
participants may absorb knowledge just from taking the test and

12. will attend more readily to the content. However, as discussed
before by conducting a pre-post design, the value added by the
12-programme session would be attained, and would also
provide with the knowledge concerning the understanding of the
factors involved in attachment better. Comment by Angel:
The same with this disadvantage…end up with an advantage ok?
Use a comma (,) and a ”However” and then state the advantage
in a two-ideas sentence. Comment by Angel: Great! Just finish
with a relevant and strong advantage of the design…
Sampling:
This study will make use of a convenience sample (Wilson &
MaClean, 2011). This means that foster parents who are
identified and are interested in participating in the study would
only be selected (Hurst & Arulogun, 2015). The sample size
will comprise 20 participants chosen from a population of 200
foster parents. Twenty participants are 10% of the accessible
population of participants. The 10% is seen as optimal sample
since it relatively small and can, therefore, give accurate results
(Hurst & Arulogun, 2015).The population size is the number of
potential participants that the researcher personally contacts and
gives the pre-test interview. The 20 participants are those that
emerged top 20 in the pre-test interview and meets inclusion
criteria. Unifying characteristics of the subjects in the sample
will be the fact that each of them is engaged in foster care
attachment programs. Furthermore, this study seeks to recruit
participants from a population of Caucasian and other minority
groups such as the aboriginals because reports indicate that
these minority groups benefit more from the foster care
attachment programs than the white majority (Hong, Algood,
Chiu & Lee, 2011). The researcher will use a multi-racial
church as recruitment grounds for sample subjects because the
church attendees are registered and, therefore, it will be easy to
identify the background credibility of the participants. The
researcher is member of this church hence this place to get the
size of sample without difficulty. Comment by Angel: Why
them? Identified by who? On the basis of what?

13. Because of certain characteristics….etc..which are essential for
this study in order to address the RQ and or in order to meet the
main aim of the study or … Comment by Angel: This is not
clear.
What do you want to say in here?
You have already stated that you will recruit 20 participants…
Emerged? Have you done this? Why in past tense?
The researcher personally contacts??? In present tense? I do not
get it…
Comment by Angel: I have seen this hundreds of times in
previous versions and I just don’t get what you are referring to.
What does been registered mean?
Inclusion criteria:
Group1:
· Subjects in the sample will be all married couples. This is
because only married couple are allowed by law to become
foster parent and, therefore, they are the ones with experience
of foster care.
· Participants should be enrolled in a foster parents programme
for at least 10 years.
· The participants should have been a couple for at least 30
years. Comment by Angel: Married unmarried? Civil union?
Married by the church?
Exclusion criteria
Group1:
· Only one parent can make a commitment to attend the 12-
session psycho-educational programme Comment by Angel:
That means that one inclusion criteria would be that of being
able to participate the two persons of the couple right? State
cleary
· If the age is less than 30 or more than 50 then he/she would be
excluded. Couples whose ages are less than 30 are not highly
knowledgeable on parenting matters while couple aged beyond
50 have enough experience on parenting matters but might not
be energetic enough for the workshop

14. Data Collection/Materials:
This study will make use of structured interviews in order to
gather participants’ perception about attachment before the 12-
session workshop. The structure of the interviews was based
upon an extensive literature review of previous case studies on
attachment (Feddern & Elklit, 2014). The researcher decided on
using questions inspired by previous case studies because such
questions have been tested and, therefore, are standard
attachment questions necessary in determining the needed
results. In other words, the researcher selected 10 questions
which have been mostly intended to understand the perception
of attachment patterns between children and the foster parents.
However, short interviews might also exclude too much
information (Feddern & Elklit, 2014). The data will be collected
from the foster parents for both the pre-test and the post-test.
Interview is a more interactive method of data collection in
which a researcher questions, consults, or evaluates one or more
persons. It can be written or verbal as well as structured or
unstructured (Hurst & Arulogun, 2015). Moreover, in this
research these interviews will be used in order to understand the
perception of the foster parents. The interviews are conducted
in various study and scholarly articles which rationalise the
point that the use of interviews is reliable and validated
(Oldham, J. M., & Rosnick, L. (1990. Furthermore, the
interviews are found to be a fast task which helps in accessing
the responses in a faster and flexible manner, which means that
the data collection has been achieved in less than expected time
period (Boyce, C., & Neale, P. (2006)). This also includes the
idea that the data collected through these interviews are the
most reliable resources as they are first handed attained by the
researchers. In general, interviews Interviews are a useful
method to investigate issues in an in depth way, discover how
individuals think and feel about a topic and why they hold
certain opinions, investigate the use, effectiveness and
usefulness of particular library collections and services, inform
decision making, strategic planning and resource allocation,

15. sensitive topics which people may feel uncomfortable
discussing in a focus group, add a human dimension to
impersonal data and deepen understanding and explain
statistical data (Boyce, C., & Neale, P. (2006). Comment by
Angel: Proven to be trustworthy and are appropriate to
gathering the necessary information in order to address the main
aim of this study…. Comment by Angel: Delete Comment by
Angel: Ok you need to organise the info.
This study will use structured interviews (why?) beucas these
are useful for A B C
Researcher developed the format based on previous studies
which proves trustworthiness etc etc etc etc
The structured interviews contains 10 main questions which will
be used…EXPLAIN clearly the structured of your DATA-
COLLECTION strategy ok?
Strengths and advantages of these structured interviews
(supported with academic references)
If you are to mention imitations, follow the formula I already
explained before ok?
Just put the information together in categories… ok? This looks
like disorganised. Comment by Angel: Different font?? And
size?
Hurst & Arulogun (2015 defines data collection instruments as
devices utilised in collecting data such as an interview schedule
that allows lay interviewers or clinicians to make psychiatric
diagnoses according to DSM-III criteria, Feighner criteria, and
Research Diagnostic Criteria. Instruments are also referred to as
methodologies used in identifying information sources.
Comment by Angel: Why is this separated? What does
DSM diagnosis have to do in here?
Procedure:
The process that would be undertaken to achieve this data

16. collection will be:
1. First of all permission from the church authorities will be
requested. Once the permission from the authorities has been
granted, the researcher will access the venue and contact
potential participants. The fact that many children-attachment
centres are based in churches, the researcher will use a multi-
racial church as recruitment grounds for sample subjects. The
church attendees’ are registered by the church as its members
and, therefore, it will be easy to identify the background
credibility of the participants who have been members of the
church for a long time. Comment by Angel: Children-
attachment? Or foster care you meant>? Comment by Angel:
What do you mean by this?
2. Then the researcher will personally attend the worship in the
church and explain purpose of the study to congregation. The
researcher is a member of this church and this will facilitate
having access to participants.
3. Contact interested applicants and brief them about the study,
including potential risks vs. benefits, explaining psycho-
educational group rather than treatment groups, explaining
voluntary nature of this study, addressing further questions.
4. The interested people will be provided with complete consent
and privacy form as an ethical measure to ensure confidentiality
of information.
Participants will be given structured interview containing pre-
test questions. This will take place in the location of the
workshop which will be in the church. The only condition is
that answers to the questions will be established in advance.
Comment by Angel: This still does not make sense.
Please tell me in plain English what you mean with this because
I am lost
5. After pre-test, the workshop begins, it will be conducted in
Genesis (researcher’s church), a community location convenient
to individuals of the Community, every 2nd and 4th Wednesday
except for statutory holiday for approximately 2-hours per
session in the researcher’s church.

17. 6. During the post-assessment, participants will be interviewed
by using structured interview used in the pre-assessment in
order to gather information regarding their knowledge of
attachment on after completion of programme.
Analysis: Comment by Angel: As previously stated I think I
need to see the 10 questions of the structured interview format
you have built so I can better advise about the analysis
strategies…
Send it to me ok? Via BB and let me know via email…
The responses collected from the pre-post interviews will be
analysed using content analysis method (Ritchie et al., 2013).
This study will use formative content analysis for pre-tests and
evaluative content analysis for post-test analysis (CJ Bonk, C
Angeli - Instructional science, 2000). Formative method will
assess the state of knowledge of participants. Evaluative method
analyses (FR Volkmar, DV Cicchetti - Journal of autism 2008)
data on impact on perceptions and behaviour of participants
towards what they have learnt in the workshop and whether
there should be changes in context of the workshop in future.
Evaluative content analysis helps in assessing effectiveness of a
program (Ritchie et al., 2013). Content analysis is the best
method for analysing data which is qualitative in nature. The
advantage of this method is that it analyses contents of each
communication elements to asses if there is any worth in the
elements (Ritchie, Lewis, Nicholls & Ormston, 2013).
Researcher will collect responses from pre-test, validate worth
of answers given, compute average and rate extent of
participant knowledge the way it is done in standard school
classrooms. In content analysis, the researcher looks at
responses and their values, sentence structures and wordings of
those sentences because content analysis utilises all the
elements of a communication process to determine credibility
and worth of information. The post-tests will then be collected

18. as well and computed to see the level of knowledge gained after
the workshop. This is done by calculating the mean deviation
between pre-test average and post-test average. To determine
whether the 12-session programme has improved knowledge of
participants with regard to foster care, the answers given will be
further analysed to assess whether they determine perception of
participants on foster care. Comment by Angel:
??????????????????????
I really need to see the format ok?
Ethical Considerations:
Ethical considerations will be undertaken as well. The first step
will be to obtain ethical approval of research from the
University of Liverpool. This will be done by filling out an
Ethical Approval form with details of the proposed research and
measures taken to observe ethics during the research. This
research proposal will be reviewed by a panel of experts of the
Ethics Review Board.
The participating church will be of support with no doubts on
the research, but still will need the confidentiality of the
participants as they will need to approve the research to be
ethical. To this effect, a proper a proper consent and privacy
form will be completed to ensure confidentiality of the
information. This form also, formally, assures the church of the
legality of the entire process. Comment by Angel: Be more
straightforward….
If the church has an ethical-related office and protocol and
procedure…just mention that you will follow such procedure…
Comment by Angel: ????
This will also include the participants not being asked for their
personal information such as name, helping them to stay
focussed towards the survey and also provide responses with
less biasness. Moreover, various ethical considerations would
be taken into consideration such as (1) Promoting a safe and
confidential environment in which participants can disclose, (3)
ensuring participants understand the results of the study will
ensure their privacy and confidentiality, and (4) lastly, ensuring

19. participants their responses will not be judged (Ritchie et al.,
2013). Comment by Angel: will
The third step would be ensuring the participants that the
gathered data would not be published under their names, this
means that even the future researches based on this research
would not be able to know the name and other specifications of
the participants would be leaked. Lastly, researcher would also
be accompanying the foster parents. Therefore, they would not
get a chance to understand the child’s perception of attachment
within that relationship (Zikmund, Babin, Carr & Griffin,
2012). All data will only be accessed by the researcher alone.
Under no circumstance will anyone, other than the researcher,
be granted access to the gathered data. This information will be
kept safe in laptops that are password protected. Comment by
Angel: Just say that Anonymity and confidentiality will be
addressed at al times in the study and that nobody will have
access to the information gathered but you and your supervisor.
Be clear…brief…concise…and straightforward Comment by
Angel: will ensure that… Comment by Angel: This seems
totally irrelevant…or….perhaps I did not get your
point….what’s the point of this? Comment by Angel:
Great!!!
Research Outcomes Comment by Angel: Some good ideas over
here. We will be working on this section as soon as we finish
the previous ones.
This study is of importance to the field of psychology as a vast
numbers of families are involved with child and family services.
Findings from this study will be beneficial to the field of
attachment in foster homes, as this may be a possible route for
parents to engage in to effectively assist the needs of the
individuals involved in their care. The study will devise
methods which can be used to encourage child cooperation by
utilising theories of contingency as well as effective limit
setting. The logic will be to try and balance encouragement and
limits.
This study will hence provide with the idea and understanding

20. in regard to the perception of the foster parents concerning the
care-giving that has to be given to the children for a better
future, rather than providing them with a strict environment that
would end up into a criminal record. This has also been
expected from this study that its publication would also enhance
the understanding of the caregiving authorities around that
globe regarding the critical situation that has been faced by the
children living in these care giver programmes. More
specifically the pre-test would be providing the real picture if
the perception that are acquired by the care givers before the 12
session psycho-educational programme. This perception will
also provide with the reason which cause a gap between the
children and the foster parents. After the completion of the 12
session of the psycho-educational programme the participants
interview will then provide with not only the understanding
created by the foster parents but also with the measures of the
impact of this psycho-educational programme on the foster
parents and their perceptions. Lastly, there is an exception of
great deal change in the perception of these foster parents
(Dominick et al., 2012).
- Find factors that are integral in the various attachments, i.e.
secure attachment.
- Assess role of a helping professional in facilitating such
relationships.
Costs
All costs will be met by the Foster parents.
Timetable
Milestone
Description
Due Date
Remarks
1
Stage 1: Area of interest identified
17thNovember,2015
2

21. Stage 2: Specific topic selected
27th November,2015
3
Stage 3: Topic refined to develop Dissertation Proposal
3rd December,2015
4
Stage 4: Proposal written and submitted
26th January,2016
5
Stage 5: Collection of data and information
17th March,2016
6
Stage 6: Analysis and interpretation of collected
data/information
24th March,2016
7
Stage 7: Writing up
4th May,2016
8
Stage 8: Final draft prepared—submission of dissertation
15th June,2016
9
Final deadline—nine months from classroom date
1st July,2016
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