Abstract
Mindful parenting (MP) as a group-based training for parents of clinically referred children with psychopathology has shown to effectively reduce child and parent mental health problems. This study investigated the effects of MP as a “preventive” intervention for parents who experienced parental stress or problems in parenting (non-clinical setting) compared to MP as a “curative” intervention (clinical setting). Parents from a non-clinical setting (n = 98, 18% fathers) and a clinical setting (n = 87, 21% fathers) completed questionnaires about themselves, their partner relationship, and their child at waitlist (non-clinical setting only), pre-test, post-test, and 8-week follow-up. Before the intervention, the children of parents in the non-clinical setting, as expected, showed higher well-being and lower behavior problems, but parental stress levels, parental overreactivity, mindful parenting, partner relationship, and parental well-being were no different in the clinical and preventive group pre-intervention. No improvement was observed at waitlist, except for parental well-being, while improvement on parent and child functioning measures did occur after MP. No differences in MP effects in both settings were found in improved parental functioning (parental stress, overreactivity, mindful parenting, partner relationship, and well-being [small to medium effect size improvements]) and child functioning (well-being and behavior problems, small effect size improvements). Improvements in child functioning were associated with improved mindful parenting. Results suggest that MP training may be an effective intervention not only for families of children referred to mental health care because of child mental disorders but also for parents who experience parental stress or parenting problems as it is.
Highlights
We aimed to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of the mindful parenting training in a non-clinical versus a clinical setting
Positive evaluations of participants in both settings and acceptable dropout rates that were comparable between both settings suggest that the mindful parenting training is a feasible and acceptable training, in a non-clinical setting
There were no differences between the settings in parental stress and other measures of parental functioning, but children did show fewer problems in their functioning in the non-clinical setting compared to the clinical setting
Summary
Evidence is growing about how the quality of the parent–child relationship affects the child’s developing brain and, on its social, emotional, and cognitiveMindfulness (2021) 12:504–518 research has shown that practicing mindfulness meditation reduces different forms of stress (Goyal et al 2014).Mindful parenting training is a novel area of application of mindfulness, which may be beneficial to the practicing parents and to their developing children and the families as a whole (Bögels et al 2014; Meppelink et al 2016). Kabat-Zinn and Kabat-Zinn (1997) introduced the term mindful parenting and defined it as Bthe ongoing process of intentionally bringing moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness as best one can to the unfolding of one’s own lived experience, including parenting.^ Duncan et al (2009) described how this intentional, non-judgmental awareness can be practiced and take shape in a parent–child relationship, for example by listening with full attention to the child, by learning to become aware and regulate emotions that arise in interactions with the child, and by cultivating feelings of compassion and acceptance both towards oneself and the child. Bögels et al (2010) examined possible mechanisms of change through which change in parent–child interactions is brought about. Bögels et al (2010) examined possible mechanisms of change through which change in parent–child interactions is brought about. Kabat-Zinn and Kabat-Zinn (1997) introduced the term mindful parenting and defined it as Bthe ongoing process of intentionally bringing moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness as best one can to the unfolding of one’s own lived experience, including parenting.^ Duncan et al (2009) described how this intentional, non-judgmental awareness can be practiced and take shape in a parent–child relationship, for example by listening with full attention to the child, by learning to become aware and regulate emotions that arise in interactions with the child, and by cultivating feelings of compassion and acceptance both towards oneself and the child. They hypothesized that mindfulness may reduce parental stress, which may in turn improve parenting skills. Other possible mechanisms of change they suggested were an improvement of parental executive functioning, an improvement of parents’ ability to take care of themselves, a reduction in parental negative bias, and an improvement in parental sensitivity
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