Effects of a parenting education program on parenting skills, parenting stress, and mindfulness skills

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the impact of the Adults and Children Together Raising Safe Kids (ACT-RSK) Program in parenting skills, parenting stress, and mindfulness skills in a group of parents and children. Methods: This investigative intervention was based on the application of a pre-test and a post-test before and after the implementation of the ACT-RSK Program. The program consisted of eight weekly 90-minute sessions conducted with a sample of 22 parents from Central Portugal. The ACT-RSK Program questionnaires, Parenting Stress Index (PSI), Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting (IM-P) scale, and a socio-demographic questionnaire were used. A descriptive and inferential analysis (Wilcoxon) was conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS, v. 24) with a 95% confidence interval. Results: Participants showed improvement from pre-test to post-test in all four program dimensions: Parenting Style (M=36.32±6.61 vs. M=48.50±4.31; p<0.01); Electronic Media (M=24.73±3.90 vs. M=30.73±2.90; p≤0.01); Child Development (M=55.18±11.82 vs. M=73.55±4.04; p≤0.01); and Parental Behavior (M=34.23±7.83 vs. M=43.05±2.81; p≤0.01). Likewise, significant improvement was seen in the Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting (IM-P) scale’s results (Z=-3.929, p=0.000) and in parenting stress, which decreased from a very high (91.59) to a medium level (74.45). Conclusion: Data show the ACT-RSK had a positive effect and improved study variables.