Peer and Professional Parenting Support on the Internet: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The Internet offers many opportunities to provide parenting support. An overview of empirical studies in this domain is lacking, and little is known about the design of web based parenting resources and their evaluations, raising questions about its position in the context of parenting intervention programs. This article is a systematic review of empirical studies (n=75), published between 1998 and 2010, that describe resources of peer and professional online support for parents. These studies generally report positive outcomes of online parenting support. A number of recent experimental studies evaluated effects, including randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental designs (totaling 1,615 parents and 740 children). A relatively large proportion of the studies in our sample reported a content analysis of e-mails and posts (totaling 15,059 coded messages). The results of this review show that the Internet offers a variety of opportunities for sharing peer support and consulting professionals. The field of study reflects an emphasis on online resources for parents of preschool children, concerning health topics and providing professional support. A range of technologies to facilitate online communication is applied in evaluated Web sites, although the combination of multiple components in one resource is not very common. The first generation of online resources has already changed parenting and parenting support for a large group of parents and professionals. Suggestions for future development and research are discussed.

Informatie op het internet over timeout als opvoedstrategie. Een analyse met inhoudelijke en formele criteria

“…Ook is online voorlichtende informatie over opvoedkwesties vaak moeilijk leesbaar (D'Alessandro, Kingsley, & Johnson-West, 2001). Ouders maken veel gebruik van het internet om informatie over opvoeden op te zoeken (Nieuwboer, 2014;Nieuwboer, Fukkink, & Hermanns, 2013;Plantin & Daneback, 2009) en het is dan ook van belang dat zowel de inhoud als de leesbaarheid van de informatie van goede kwaliteit is en dat duidelijk is wat de achterliggende bronnen van de informatie zijn.…”

Romanian Parents’ Use of the Internet: Optimizing Parenting Skills as Sexual Educators

“…Other positive aspects of people using these forums and social media are: the possibility of accessing, when available, professional support and advice and of contributing to a conversation or receiving an answer at any time, the possibility of helping people learn new skills and the fact that they could produce not only individual but societal benefits such as increased involvement in off-line civic activities. There are also negative aspects, such as the lack of credibility and trustworthiness of the information, the possible proliferation of inaccurate and poor-quality information that might have harmful consequences and the risk of exposing people to negative interactions with other users (Appleton, Fowler & Brown, 2014;Dworkin, Connell & Doty, 2013;Nieuwboer, Fukkink Three major themes of parental discourse around child-health and Internet usage were identified by literature: (1) seeking information and advice, (2) sharing information and experience and (3) seeking and creating social support (Appleton, Fowler & Brown, 2014;Dworkin, Connell & Doty, 2013). …”

Exploring how children express feelings and emotions in an online support group

“…The number and range of topics covered by online support groups is ever increasing with research having reported on many groups including those accessed by caregivers of people with AIDS (Brennan, Moore, & Smythe, 1992), survivors of sexual abuse (Finn & Lavitt, 1994), breast cancer patients (Sharf, 1997;Sillence, 2013), haemophiliacs (Scheerhorn, 1997), parenting support (Nieuwboer, Fukkink, & Hermanns, 2013), people with physical disabilities (Braithwaite, Waldron, & Finn, 1999), and individuals with eating disorders (McCormack & Coulson, 2009). Despite the widely acknowledged attraction of computers and the Internet to children and young adolescents, however, their communication via this medium has received less attention from researchers.…”