While the increasing awareness of risk in late modernity has resulted in the proliferation and complication of parental roles and choices, few attempts have been made to explore how parent education can empower parents to reconstruct parenthood and transform parental lives. Based on the results of a mixed-methods study conducted in Hong Kong, this article discusses the possible outcomes and experiences of a parent education program that aimed to facilitate parents' holistic growth in dealing with the prevailing culture of intensive parenting. The program was composed of 30 h of seminars and workshops. The participants included 387 Hong Kong Chinese parents recruited from seven primary schools and 27 nursery schools. A pretest-posttest assessment survey and postintervention focus groups were adopted for the evaluation methods. Findings: The quantitative results showed that the participants experienced an enhancement in confidence, understanding, and trust in parenting. The qualitative
This paper reports the results of a qualitative analysis of the participants’ perceptions and experiences of a
parent education program adopting an existential approach. With a critical review of the changing social context of
parenthood and the provision of parent education in Hong Kong, the paper discusses the theoretical underpinnings, key
components, and the design of a growth- and meaning-oriented parent education program. This program comprised six 5-
hour sessions held weekly. The participants included 43 Hong Kong Chinese parents. An evaluation study was conducted
to explore the outcomes of the program, which was composed of a non-equivalent comparison group design, a subjective
outcome evaluation survey, and post-intervention focus group interviews. The current paper focuses on reporting the
qualitative examination of the data collected through five post-intervention focus groups. Twenty-five participants were
randomly selected and invited to join the groups. The recurrent themes extracted from their narratives reveal their
perceptions of the impacts of the program on their enhancement of self-understanding and personal growth, integration of
life through life review, reset of life priority, affirmation of the parent-child relational connection, changes in parent-child
relationships and interactions, and cultivation of mutual support and mutual learning. Based on the qualitative findings,
the paper explores the relevance and potentials of this approach in re-conceptualizing parent education in the Hong Kong
Chinese context.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.