Strengthening positive parenting through a 2-month intervention in a local city in Japan: evaluating parental efficacy, family adjustment, and family empowerment

Abstract

Aims: Childmaltreatmentisahigh-prioritypublichealthissueinJapan.Evenafter enactmentoftheChildAbuseProtectionLaw,thenumberofcasesreportedhasincreaseddramatically.Regardless,asignificantnumberofJapanesemothersaredistressedabouttheirparentingskills. Toaddressthissituation,itisnecessarytoadoptpreventionstrategiesknown as the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) and strengthen positive parenting through intervention, especially in areas with limited healthcare resources. The purpose of this study was toinvestigatetheeffectivenessofGroupTriplePby evaluating parental efficacy, family adjustment and family empowermentina local city in Japan, as a direct contribution to child and family-centered care.Methods: Participantsinboththe intervention (N=15)andcontrol(N=9) groupswererecruitedfrommothersraising children aged 1-12 years and livingin a local City in Japan. We assessedchildadjustment and parent efficacyby Child Adjustment and Parent Efficacy Scale (CAPES),parenting and family adjustmentby Parenting and Family Adjustment Scales (PAFAS) andParentingExperienceSurvey (PES) and family empowerment by Family Empowerment Scale (FES) in both groups.An analysisof covariancewasusedtodeterminetheintervention’seffects.Results: Child Adjustment subscalesofthe CAPES and Parenting Adjustment subscalesofthe PAFAS indicatedasignificantinterventioneffect.Inaddition,post-interventionscoresfor mostPAFAS subscales,aswellasratingsforthe perceivedrewardsofparenting and agreement with partner regarding child discipline inthePES,weresignificantlyreducedintheinterventiongroupalone.The FES scorefor the Familysubscale and total score alsorevealed significantincreasesonlyintheinterventiongroup.Conclusion: GroupTriplePwas suggested to beeffectiveinimprovingthe adjustment of the child, parent and family and family empowerment amongJapanesefamilies