Pilot Study of a Pre-Deployment Parent Coaching Program for Military Families with Young Children

Abstract

The most stressful phase of deployment for military families with young children is pre-deployment; they are often overlooked in family preparation strategies. Failure to prepare young children may put them at risk for disrupted attachment and it can increase parenting stress. Preparing young children for deployment could buffer the potential negative impact by reducing associated parenting stress and empowering parents with attachment-strengthening strategies. Telephone-based interventions are the preferred method of service delivery among military families. The current study randomly assigned (N = 13) mothers of children who were under age five, to either a control group (n = 6) or to a telephone-administered pre-deployment parent coaching program (n = 7). Parent coaching was comprised of two content modules and two follow-up calls. Feasibility analysis of the assessment and implementation procedures are provided. There were large effect sizes for reduced parenting stress and increased parenting competence and emotion regulation. Between subjects comparisons found small and medium effect sizes for the parenting coaching compared to controls on number and intensity or parenting hassles. Preliminary data are promising, suggesting that investigation of the parent coaching program with larger samples is possible.