The Effectiveness of Supportive Parenting Program TrainingOn Parenting Patterns and Mothers' Depression, Anxiety and StressAnd Children Externalizing Behavior Problems

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of supportive parenting program training on parenting patterns and decreasing mother's stress, depression, anxiety and children externalizing behavior problems. The present study was a quasi-experimental trial with a pre-test post-test design with control group in which Iranian mothers participated with their children who studied in elementary schools in city of Tehran in 2021 and had externalizing behavior problems. Subjects included 32 mothers who were selected by purposive sampling method and randomly divided into intervention and control groups (in each group, the number=16). The 16 mothers in the intervention group participated in a 10-session training course of a supportive parenting program based on Sanders Positive Parenting Program (Triple p) (Sanders, 1999), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) (Hayes, 2012), and Life Skills Training (WHO, 2015). In contrast, the 16 mothers in the control group did not receive any education. Participants were evaluated using the Parenting Scale (Arnold, O'Leary, Wolff & Acker, 1993), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-42) (Lovibond and Lovibond, 1995), and Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (EBCI) (Eyberg & Pincus, 1999). Also, the teacher reported the quality of each child's behavior using Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation Revised (TOCA-R) (Johns Hopkins Center for Prevention and Early Intervention, 1991). Data using variance analysis was analyzed with a recurrent measurement plan. Results after the end of supportive parenting training sessions, at first showed a significant improvement in parenting patterns and reducing mothers' depression, anxiety and stress. At the 6 months follow-up, the status of these mothers in the intervention group was significantly better compared to their baseline score as well as the control group (p <0.05). Also, their children externalizing behavior problems decreased significantly in the intervention group and this effect of the intervention was significantly maintained after 6 months. The results supported the effectiveness of a supportive parenting training program as an effective approach to reducing children externalizing behavior problems and also improving the quality of parenting behaviors of mothers with children with behavioral problems.