Teenage pregnancy Evaluating specialised midwifery support services

1
A Comparative Study of the Effect of Group-based
Parenting Support on Parental Stress and Outcomes
for Children in both the UK and Japan UK Team
Professor Sally Kendall (University of
Hertfordshire), Linda Bloomfield (University of
Hertfordshire), Dr Jane Appleton (Oxford Brookes
University),
Jane Petrie, Families in Focus Japan
Team Professor Kazuyo Kitaoka (School of
Nursing, Kanazawa Medical University, Japan),
Professor Fumie Ochiai, Associate Professor Akiko
Tsuda, Assistant Professor Makie Nagai, Assistant
Professor Maki Uchida, Assistant Professor Tomoe
Hashimoto
The Centre for Social Justice (2010) Green Paper
on the Family endorses parenting programmes for
all parents on the basis that this will enhance
parents relationships with their children and
their understanding of their childs development,
thus contributing to family cohesion. The family,
both in the UK and Japan, is perceived as a
necessary part of the social structure and
therefore community based support for parents
contributes to social cohesion and prevents
longer term problems of neglect, abuse and
anti-social behaviour. This study adds to our
comparative understanding of parenting support in
two countries and its effectiveness.

• AIMS
• To examine the relationship between increased
  parental self-efficacy after attending a
  parenting programme and parental stress and child
  behaviour
• To examine whether parents feel more confident in
  using health services appropriately after
  attending a parenting programme
• To compare the cultural and contextual issues
  surrounding parental support in the UK and Japan

• Questionnaires
• Data collected from 123Magic parenting
  programmes1, pre-programme, post-programme and at
  3-month follow-up.
• Parental self-efficacy (TOPSE, Kendall
  Bloomfield)
• Parental stress (PSI, Abidin)
• Child Strength and Difficulties (SDQ, Goodman)
• 
  

Qualitative methods Focus groups and interviews
with parents to explore parent and child
interactions, child behaviour and programme
outcomes.

JAPAN Data Pre-course (n49) Post-course
(n49) 3-month (n49)
I have three children now, the youngest one is
just turning two, but because the older ones are
both boys, they fight badly, and the youngest
ones ego has started developing and being
expressed, I was thinking this must be the
hardest time, then I was thinking, somehow, if I
can listen to my children more, or do something
about the problems more calmly without becoming
irritated, it would help.
I came because I was conscious that I was
shouting a lot. I felt that unless I shouted my
son wouldnt listenobviously I knew thats
wrong, thats not the way to handle things, but
it just didnt seem to work any other way, so I
was getting to the end of each day and feeling a
failure.
UK Data
Child strengths and difficulties P.002
Parenting stress P.003
Pre-course (n63) Post-course (n23) 3-month
(n38)
Parenting stress P.002
Child strengths and difficulties, P.063
TOPSE
TOPSE
And the other good thing about the experience
for me was just to hear other people talking, and
not to feel such a failure, to realise that
actually its quite normal to have issues,
doesnt mean its your fault, its just the way
you handle it
Well, now I am also thinking vaguely about a
time which flows calmly, my children are smiling,
I am smiling, and I have less on my mind, then I
can feel It was a calm day all daythe times
spent really enjoying playing with my children or
the times when I ask them to do something, they
answer yes politely, or the times when we can
understand each other smoothly, I think those are
the calmest times for me.
But I do think at the end of the six weeks,
definitely more patient with them, less
shoutingand a bit more understanding. Trying to
understand where theyre coming from, to see why
they are frustrated and try and turn it around
CONCLUSIONS Given the current global concerns
over child health and social development, early
years interventions with parents appear to be a
way forward. The results from this study will
add to the emerging knowledge base around how
community-based support for parents may impact on
their confidence as parents and the effect this
has on child outcomes.
1 Thomas Phelan, 2004
s.kendall_at_herts.ac.uk