family life education
any initiative or effort intended to ameliorate widespread societal issues by fostering healthy relationships within families. The approach is preventive; it provides family members at risk of various problems (e.g., substance abuse, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy, school or career failure) with information and resources to encourage, for example, good communication, strong decision-making and problem-solving skills, positive self-esteem, and understanding of others’ differences and respect for their points of view. For example, a family life education program for stepfamilies might use behavior-modeling videos to demonstrate effective parenting practices, and a program for low-achieving students in families might use a job-shadowing exercise to aid in vocational planning. Professionals in the field, known as family life educators, are not licensed but may be certified from any of several organizations worldwide.