Perceptions of Portuguese parents about the acceptability of a multicomponent intervention targeted at behavioral inhibition during early childhood

Abstract

High and stable behavioral inhibition during early childhood is a risk factor for later anxiety disorders. The few available interventions targeted at behavioral inhibition have not yet been implemented in European countries. Evaluating intervention acceptability is essential when introducing interventions in new cultures. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of parents about the acceptability of the multicomponent Turtle Program in Portugal. Participants were 12 parents (from seven families) of children with a positive screening on the Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire and no diagnoses of developmental disorders/selective mutism. Children's mean age was 55.86 months and most children were female and first-born. Parents and children participated in the eight-sessions Turtle Program. After each session, parents completed weekly satisfaction checklists. Following completion of the full intervention, parents were invited to participate in individual qualitative in-depth interviews. The thematic analysis revealed that both parents perceived the intervention objectives and contents as relevant. Both parents suggested the introduction of follow-up sessions, the discussion of practical experiences, the need to be sensitive to cultural differences in positive language, and the provision of more feedback about children's activities. These findings support prior research on the acceptability and cultural tailoring needed for parenting and child socioemotional learning interventions.

Preliminary perceived intervention changes and engagement in an evidence-based program targeted at behavioral inhibition during early childhood, delivered in-person and online

“…agreement of the research group who originally developed the intervention program, preliminary tested, and refined, considering parents' perspectives on the acceptability of the intervention program (Guedes et al, 2021).…”

“…Similar to the Turtle Program delivered in-person (Danko et al, 2018), the parent group follows the principles of PCIT (Eyberg et al, 2008) adapted for anxiety problems 0Comer et al, 2018). The psychoeducational activities and contents (see Table 2) are comparable to those of the culturally tailored Turtle Program delivered in-person (Danko et al, 2018;Guedes et al, 2019bGuedes et al, , 2021. In vivo therapist coaching of the parent and the child together was adapted according to the guidelines for the internet-based delivery of the Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (Comer et al, 2015), and the CDI coaching session was delivered with each parent-child dyad individually.…”

“…Research on PCIT supports the use of a group format for parents of preschool children (Barnett and Niec, 2018). More specifically, caregivers of inhibited preschoolers have been found to value the social support they received in the parent component of the Turtle Program drawn on PCIT adapted to anxiety problems (Danko et al, 2018;Guedes et al, 2021). Recent pilot studies have shown promising findings for internet-delivered group interventions with families of preschool children drawn on PCIT, cognitive-behavioral exposure, and videoconferencing (Hong et al, 2022).…”