Brief Parenting Seminars for Preventing Child Behavioral and Emotional Difficulties: a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Early parenting programs can prevent the development of child behavioral and emotional difficulties. Despite the high prevalence of these difficulties in Greek children aged 2 to 12, no evidence-based parenting programs have been tested in randomized trials in Greece. We pilot-tested the efficacy of a brief parenting intervention for universal prevention of child behavioral and emotional difficulties. Parents from the general population (N = 124) were randomly assigned to receive the Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) Seminar Series (n = 83), or leaflet information on child health (n = 41). Most participants were highly educated mothers with boys and girls aged 2–12, from middle-income, inner-city households. Participants reported on child behavior, parenting style and parenting adjustment, before and after the intervention and six months later. At post-intervention, parent-reported behavioral problems were reduced in the intervention group, but increased in the control group (p = 0.001); these differences remained at 6-month follow-up. Of those in the clinical range (28%) at baseline, significantly more intervention children than control children moved to normal range six months later. Disrupted parenting practices were reduced more in intervention parents at post-intervention but were not maintained at follow-up. No significant differences were found in secondary child behavioral difficulties, child emotional difficulties, parenting confidence and distress over time. This Seminar Series is a brief, easily replicable and likely cost-effective early intervention leading to significant medium-sized reductions over six months in behavioral difficulties, and improvements in disrupted parenting. These findings broadly support other evidence about effective transportability of parenting interventions across countries.