Protecting Children After a Divorce: Efficacy of Egokitzen—An Intervention Program for Parents on Children’s Adjustment

Abstract

The objective of this study is to present the psychoeducational program Egokitzen, a post-divorce intervention for parents and preliminary data on its efficacy, by means of a quasi-experimental design with a wait-list comparison group. This program—Egokitzen—has been recently published following years of development, pilot tests and adaptation, and comprises 11 weekly intervention sessions that focus on three major blocks of content: (a) divorce in itself, (b) interparental conflict; and (c) parenting styles and discipline. Thirty-four parents, with a total number of 51 children—aged 2–23 years—took part in the study. Participants completed measures of interparental conflict, family communication, perception of family relationships, parental symptomatology and children’s aggressive and anxiety/depression symptoms before, after the intervention and 6 months on completion of the program. Significant differences were found in terms of the perceived conflict and children’s mental health symptoms, especially in the 6-moth follow-up period. More structural variables, such as communication, family satisfaction or parent–child relationships, seem to require more time for noticeable change and stability. We can conclude that, even though the results are exploratory, the Egokitzen program is a very promising initiative for helping prevent and fostering the healthy psychological development of children who are going through the parental divorce process.