Nurturing Parenting Program for Parents and Their School-age Children 5 to 11 Years
Problems addressed
Low parental skills
Low social–emotional competences
Effectiveness

Promising

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Promising

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Life periods served
Children (4 to 13 years)
Early childhood (0 to 3 years)
Where the program was applied
Community (streets or community centers)
Country of application
United States
Description

This is a program for families with children from 5 to 12 years old aimed at developing parenting skills and preventing violence against children.
Parents and their children attend separate groups that meet simultaneously. Before and after the intervention, caregivers complete two validated tests to measure its effect. The therapist discusses the results with the family and proposes an intervention plan.
The group intervention basically addresses parental behaviors that contribute to child maltreatment, such as inappropriate parental expectations; lack of parental empathy to meet children’s needs; strong belief in the use of physical punishment; reversal of family roles of parents and children; opposition to children’s power and independence.

Impact evaluations

Impact evaluation studies showed that parents participating in the program showed statistically significant improvements in inappropriate expectations of their children, low empathy, beliefs about the value of punishment and role reversal [1], an improvement in children’s social and emotional behaviors [2], and improved parenting skills [3] [4].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Cowen, P. S. (2001). Effectiveness of a parent education intervention for at-risk families. Journal of the Society of Pediatric Nurses: JSPN, 6(2), 73–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6155.2001.tb00124.x

[2] Vespo, J. E., Capece, D. & Behforooz, B. (2006). Effects of the Nurturing Curriculum on Social, Emotional, and Academic Behaviors in Kindergarten Classrooms. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 20(4), 275–285. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568540609594567

[3] Brock, D.‑J. P., Marek, L. I., Matteo-Kerney, C. & Bagby, T. (2013). Open groups: Adaptations in implementing a parent training program. Health Promotion Perspectives, 3(2), 230–241. https://doi.org/10.5681/hpp.2013.026

[4] Devall, E. L. (2004). Positive Parenting for High-Risk Families. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 96(4), 22–28. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ736889

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