Citation

Oveisi S, Ardabili HE, Dadds MR, Majdzadeh R, Mohammadkhani P, Rad JA, Shahrivar Z. Child Abuse Negl. 2010; 34(3): 206-213.

Affiliation

Tehran University of Medical Science, School of Public Health, Enqelab St., Tehran, Iran.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2009.05.008

PMID

20207004

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess whether primary health care settings can be used to engage and provide a preventive intervention to mothers of young children. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty-four mothers who had come to the health centers were randomly assigned to either control group (CG: n=116) or intervention group (IG: n=108). Mothers in IG were taught about the role of parenting skills in families and common mistakes in parenting in 2-h-weekly sessions for 2 successive weeks. A parenting questionnaire was distributed to mothers at pre-test and after 8 weeks from the last training session. RESULTS: Compared to the CG, there were significant improvements from pre- to post-test in IG on measures of Parenting Scales (PS) total scores and Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale-modified (CTSPCm) total scores. This improvement was maintained at 8-week follow up. CONCLUSION: The results support previous international studies that primary health care settings can be used successfully to engage and provide preventive interventions to mothers of young children. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Within health centers of Iran where parents routinely bring their children for monitoring of growth or vaccinating against some disease, mothers with a child aged between 2 and 6 years received a parent training. The program gave skills for managing misbehavior and preventing child behavior problems. Mothers reported that their behaviors improved from pre-treatment to post-treatment measured at 8-week follow up. The current work may lead decision-makers to organize this program for all of the health centers to train Iranian mothers.

Language: en