Affluent Mexican immigrant parents’ perceptions of child–parent relationship training.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to use phenomenological qualitative research to investigate the perceptions of 14 foreign-born affluent Mexican (FBAM) parents' living in the Southern United States (all documented immigrants). We explored their perceptions of the effectiveness and goodness-of-fit of child-parent relationship therapy (CPRT), a structured 10-session parenting intervention demonstrated to be useful in helping parents and caregivers improve the quality of the child-parent relationship. At the time of this study, no published research existed that explored counseling interventions addressing the unique needs of this subgroup as they relate to understanding and improving the parent-child relationship. The researchers used a phenomenological qualitative approach to address 2 research questions: What were the perceptions of FBAM parents regarding the effectiveness of CPRT? What were the perceptions of FBAM parents regarding the process and procedures involved in CPRT? After the participants completed the required 10 sessions of CPRT over 5 weeks, they partook in individual semistructured interviews that explored their experiences of CPRT. Thematic analysis of the participants' responses to the interview questions indicated that they perceived the CPRT skills acquired through their training to have improved their parenting skills and strengthened the parent-child relationship. Implications of the results of the thematic analysis for counseling practice are discussed. The role of culture is significant in individuals' expectations and experiences in counseling. In 2001, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported that "culture bears on whether people even seek help in the first place, what types of help they seek, what types of coping styles and social supports they have, and how much stigma they attach to mental illness (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001, p. 25). Government officials and researchers in the field advocate for mental health interventions that are culturally sensitive and applicable for diverse backgrounds. Yet, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "the system of mental health services currently fails to provide for the vast majority of Latinos in need of care." (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001, p. 146). The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of 1 particular subgroup, FBAM immigrant families regarding their shared experiences of CPRT (Landreth & Bratton, 2006) as an intervention to strengthen the parent-child relationship.

Effect of CPRT with adoptive parents of preadolescents: A pilot study.

“…Visual analysis of Figure 4 from pre to midtest indicates marked improvement in parenting stress, and mid to posttest scores show that parents continued to report reduction of stress in the parent–child relationship at the end of intervention. Reduction in parenting stress is consistent with other CPRT research that demonstrates increased parental confidence, knowledge, and skills, as a result of participating in CPRT (Edwards, Sullivan, Meany-Walen, & Kantor, 2010; Hassey, Garza, Sullivan, & Serres, 2016).…”

Meeting the needs of children through telemental health: Application for rural mental health using child–parent relationship therapy.

“…Further, scholars have conducted CPRT research with a variety of presenting concerns, including with single parents (Bratton & Landreth, 1995; Johnson, 2014), conservative Christian parents (Bornsheuer-Boswell et al, 2013), adoptive parents (Opiola & Bratton, 2018; Swan et al, 2019), and with low-income families (Ceballos & Bratton, 2010; Sheely & Bratton, 2010; Socarras et al, 2015). Additionally, researchers have utilized CPRT with diverse populations, including Latino families (Ceballos & Bratton, 2010; Hassey et al, 2017) and African American families (Sheely & Bratton, 2010; Socarras et al, 2015), and was conceptualized for use with parents of children with disabilities (Rodríguez et al, 2021). The following section outlines the CPRT procedures (Landreth & Bratton, 2019) and the specific play session skills taught for each week of the intervention.…”

What experiences prompted adoptive parents of preadolescents to self-refer for child–parent relationship therapy?

“…Thus, parents’ experiences throughout the CPRT intervention are critically important to the delivery of this play therapy model. In recognition of the need to understand parents’ experiences to best deliver CPRT, researchers have published qualitative reports of parents’ perceptions of CPRT (e.g., Bavin-Hoffman et al, 1996; Bornsheuer-Boswell et al, 2013; Boswell, 2014; Dillman et al, 2011; Edwards et al, 2010; Hassey et al, 2016; Kinsworthy & Garza, 2010; Myrick et al, 2018; Socarras et al, 2015). Findings from qualitative CPRT reports establish CPRT as a group parenting intervention in which parents: (a) learn skills of reflective responding, empathic interaction, limit setting, and choice giving, (b) gain relational connection and emotional attunement with their children, and (c) feel validated by other parents and leaders.…”