Effects of a Mindful Parenting Workshop for Parents of Adolescents and Young Adults Following Social Unrest in Hong Kong

Abstract

Objectives The social unrest that began in Hong Kong in 2019 became a threat to public mental health, such as for depression and post-traumatic stress disorders. A supportive family environment is the most effective protective factor for mental health problems for young people who are exposed to conflict and violence. This study investigated the outcomes of a brief mindful parenting workshop on parent mental health and family functioning. Methods Using a randomized controlled trial design, 54 parents of adolescents and young adults were randomized into intervention group and waitlist control group. Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress symptoms, negative emotions, family functioning, and family conflicts were measured at baseline (pretest), following training, and at 3-month follow-up. Results We found a significant improvement in family functioning among parents in the intervention group when compared to those parents in the control group ( F [1, 51] = 4.41, p = .04). When we further controlled the child-initiated physical conflict as covariate, a significant reduction of self-rated levels of depressive symptoms was found in the parents from the intervention group when compared to the parents in the control group ( F [1, 49] = 5.14, p = .03). Conclusions We found preliminary evidence that a brief mindful parenting workshop can strengthen parent and family mental health at times of social unrest. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04427683).

Hong Kong Adolescents’ Participation in Political Activities: Correlates of Violent Political Participation

“…While the present findings yield evidence for a possible role of positive parenting and family functioning in preventing adolescents' violent political participation, we cannot rule out the possibility that youths' participation in violent political actions created more family conflict and worsened parent-child relationships, especially when parents disapprove of their adolescent children's political participation or hold different political stances. In fact, several studies have reported increased intra-familial conflict and different levels of renegotiation in family relationships of active participants during the social unrest in Hong Kong (Ho et al, 2018;Lo et al, 2021). Lower relationship quality and lower congruence in family members' political attitudes predicted more serious subsequent family conflicts (Chan et al, 2018), which can lead to or worsen the existing mental health burden of adolescents and their family members.…”

Online child–parent relationship therapy in Hong Kong during COVID-19: Results of a pilot study.

“…Parent training that increases warmth and parental acceptance was recommended by Cheung et al (2018) based on their study of 217 Hong Kong families with 8-year-old children. Parent training based on mindfulness interventions did help Hong Kong parents of adolescents after the 2019 period of social unrest by improving family functioning and decreasing levels of depression (Lo et al, 2022). Yet, there have been no studies on parenting interventions for Hong Kong parents of young children after a social or health crisis such as COVID-19.…”