Group‐based parent training programmes for improving parental psychosocial health

Abstract

This Cochrane‐Campbell systematic review examines the effects of group‐based parenting programmes on parents' psychosocial health. The review summarise findings from 48 studies conducted in various countries and settings including the USA, Canada, Australia, U.K., China, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and The Netherlands. The participants were adult parents with the parental responsibility for day‐to‐day care of children. A total of 4,937 participants were included in the studies. What are the main results? Parent training has positive short‐term effects on depression, anxiety, stress, anger, guilt, confidence and partner satisfaction. There was no effect on self‐esteem and none of the trials reported on aggression or adverse effects. However, after six months there are positive effects on only two outcomes (stress and confidence), and after one year there are no significant effects on any outcomes. The data refer primarily to mothers as there are limited data on fathers. Only one meta‐analysis was conducted for fathers, showing a statistically significant short‐term improvement in parental stress. There was no significant different in effects according to the type of programme or intervention duration. Abstract BACKGROUNDParental psychosocial health can have a significant effect on the parent‐child relationship, with consequences for the later psychological health of the child. Parenting programmes have been shown to have an impact on the emotional and behavioural adjustment of children, but there have been no reviews to date of their impact on parental psychosocial wellbeing. OBJECTIVESTo address whether group‐based parenting programmes are effective in improving parental psychosocial wellbeing (for example, anxiety, depression, guilt, confidence). SEARCH METHODSWe searched the following databases on 5 December 2012: CENTRAL (2011, Issue 4), MEDLINE (1950 to November 2011), EMBASE (1980 to week 48, 2011), BIOSIS (1970 to 2 December 2011), CINAHL (1982 to November 2011), PsycINFO (1970 to November week 5, 2011), ERIC (1966 to November 2011), Sociological Abstracts (1952 to November 2011), Social Science Citation Index (1970 to 2 December 2011), metaRegister of Controlled Trials (5 December 2011), NSPCC Library (5 December 2011). We searched ASSIA (1980 to current) on 10 November 2012 and the National Research Register was last searched in 2005. SELECTION CRITERIAWe included randomised controlled trials that compared a group‐based parenting programme with a control condition and used at least one standardised measure of parental psychosocial health. Control conditions could be waiting‐list, no treatment, treatment as usual or a placebo. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSISAt least two review authors extracted data independently and assessed the risk of bias in each study. We examined the studies for any information on adverse effects. We contacted authors where information was missing from trial reports. We standardised the treatment effect for each outcome in each study by dividing the mean difference in post‐intervention ...

Clinical Effectiveness of Family Therapeutic Interventions Embedded in General Pediatric Primary Care Settings for Parental Mental Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…The methods of our study can be compared and contrasted to those of other similar review studies (e.g., Barlow et al 2002Barlow et al , 2003Barlow et al , 2014. Our study shares five similar methods with the existing systematic reviews and metaanalyses.…”

“…Our study shares five similar methods with the existing systematic reviews and metaanalyses. First, the interventions examined by us and others (Barlow et al , 2014 primarily targeted parenting with the secondary goal of improving parental mental health. Second, the two main theoretical orientations of the models were behavioral and cognitive-behavioral.…”

“…Second, the two main theoretical orientations of the models were behavioral and cognitive-behavioral. Third, depressive symptoms (Barlow et al , 2014 and parent-child interaction (Coren et al 2003) were outcomes. Fourth, we included studies using different intervention levels, prevention as well as treatment, as did Barlow et al (2014) and Barlow et al (2002).…”

“…Third, depressive symptoms (Barlow et al , 2014 and parent-child interaction (Coren et al 2003) were outcomes. Fourth, we included studies using different intervention levels, prevention as well as treatment, as did Barlow et al (2014) and Barlow et al (2002). Finally, our study and another study (Barlow et al 2014) used similar inclusion criteria for the study design in that randomized controlled trials and cluster randomized trials were included.…”

“…The current study addresses this gap through a systematic review and meta-analysis. A variety of similar systematic reviews and meta-analyses have been conducted on parent training program impacts on child and parent psychosocial outcomes (e.g., Barlow et al 2002Barlow et al , 2014, but the results are not specific to general pediatric primary care settings.…”