Parental mentalization goes to school: a brief online mentalization-based intervention to improve parental academic support

Abstract

Parental support of children’s learning contributes to children’s motivation, efficacy, and academic success. Nonetheless, in the context of homework, many parents struggle to offer adequate academic support and intervene in a manner that can curtail children’s academic progress. A mentalization-based online intervention was proposed for improving parental homework support. The intervention involves teaching parents to dedicate the first 5 minutes of homework preparation to observation of the child’s and the parent’s mental states. Thirty-seven Israeli parents of elementary school children randomly assigned to intervention or waitlist conditions participated in a pilot study assessing the feasibility and initial efficacy of the intervention. Participants completed self-report measures before and after the intervention or a 2-week waiting period and provided feedback on the intervention. Pilot findings suggest that this low-intensity online intervention can be effective in improving parenting practices in the homework supervision context. A randomized controlled trial is required to further establish the intervention’s efficacy.