Mellow Parenting: systematic review and meta‐analysis of an intervention to promote sensitive parenting

Abstract

Aim To review and meta‐analyse Mellow Parenting interventions for parent–child dyads at high risk of adverse developmental outcomes. Method Using Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we extracted all published evaluations of Mellow Parenting and Mellow Babies programmes. We identified published studies with randomized controlled trials, quasi‐experimental or within‐subject pre–post designs. We incorporated ‘grey literature’ for unpublished publicly available evaluations. Effect sizes were calculated for impact of Mellow Parenting on parental mental health and child behaviour. Data were extracted on demographics, age of participants, country, and potential sources of bias. Results We identified eight papers, representing nine data sets, from five of which we calculated effect sizes. There was evidence of a medium treatment effect of Mellow Parenting compared with comparison groups on maternal well‐being and child problems. Drop‐out from treatment was variable. However, data were heterogeneous and there was evidence of methodological bias. Interpretation Our data give some support to claims for effectiveness of Mellow Parenting as a group intervention for families with multiple indices of developmental adversity. Given the methodological weaknesses of literature in the area, novel approaches are needed in future trials of low‐budget complex interventions in non‐commercial settings.

The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Maternal Perinatal Mental Health Outcomes: a Systematic Review

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The double‐edged sword of vulnerability: Explaining the persistent challenges for practitioners in supporting parents with intellectual disabilities

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Evaluation of an Intervention Program for Families with Children at Risk for Maltreatment and Developmental Impairment: A Preliminary Study

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“…When children are identified as being at risk, it is essential to create a diagnosis and intervention plan which focuses not only on the developmental needs of the child, but also on parenting skills along with other environmental factors (Department of Health, 2000). However, intervention programs which are evaluated through experimental or quasi-experimental designs usually do not deliver interventions with a multitude of risk factors at the level of children and parents (complex interventions, i.e., focused on different sub-systems that mutually influence each other; Charles, Bywater, & Edwards, 2011;Macbeth, Law, McGowan, Norrie, Thompson, & Wilson, 2015) or assess results at different levels of child functioning and/or family (Casanueva, Martin, Runyan, Barth, & Bradley, 2008;Letarte, Normandeau, & Allard, 2010). Furthermore, the evaluation of the effectiveness of early intervention in childhood has focused primarily on the intellectual functioning of children (Anderson et al, 2003), and few interventions using randomized controlled designs with general or at-risk populations were evaluated also in terms of their impact on practices of parental maltreatment (Dagenais, Bégin, Bouchard, & Fortin, 2004;Letarte, Normandeau, & Allard, 2010).…”