Healthier Parents - Effects of Parent Training Programs on Mental Health

Abstract

The study aims to investigate the effects of Parent Training Programs on the mental health of parents with children aged between 1 and 17 in a universal preventive setting. The intervention group included 279 parents who were assigned to five professionally administered interventions, which included 5-10 two-hour sessions; they were then compared to 702 parents in the comparison group without intervention. The improvement in general mental health was statistically significant in the intervention group compared to the comparison group. The findings suggest that evidence-based parent training programs enhance well-being in parents without indicated problems. However further exploration of preventive training programs for parents are needed.

Quality of life and service use amongst parents of young children: Results from the Children and Parents in Focus trial

“…Mental-health problems amongst adults aged 35–49 years in Uppsala County are estimated at 19% through nationally representative questionnaires using the same instrument as in this study, the GHQ-12 [7]. A recently published study in Sweden, also using the GHQ-12, reports mental-health problems of 28% amongst parents of young children [33]. However, <2% of the adults in this study sample reported mental-health problems.…”

Health, public sector service use and related costs of Swedish preschool children: results from the Children and Parents in Focus trial

“…A nationally representative survey using the GHQ estimated a prevalence of mental health problems of 19% amongst adults aged 35–49 years in Uppsala County [ 31 ]. Another recently published study, also using the GHQ, reported mental health problems of 28% amongst parents of young children in Sweden [ 32 ]. Reasons for the low rate of mental health problems among the parents in our sample could be various.…”