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 centers 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 parent 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 learned 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.”

Triple P’s self-regulatory approach is considered a key strength of the program, encouraging self-sufficiency by giving parents the confidence to choose and adapt Triple P’s strategies to suit a variety of parenting situations, without having to rely on ongoing support.

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 behavioral 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.

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