van Leuven Livia, Lalouni Maria, Forster Martin
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Psychology, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 9, 171 65 Solna, Sweden.
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Neuro, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 9, 171 65 Solna, Sweden.
J Child Fam Stud. 2023;32(1):67-80. doi: 10.1007/s10826-022-02398-8. Epub 2022 Aug 8.
While rates of child maltreatment increased during the Covid-19-pandemic, face-to-face interventions to support families got difficult to carry out due to restrictions. Meanwhile, many services do not have access to parenting programs designed for digital or remote delivery. A solution employed by some services was to use video conferencing (VC) to deliver their regular parenting programs. This study examined the effectiveness of the universal group-based parenting program ABC offered through VC instead of on-site meetings during the pandemic. Pre and post measurements were collected from 469 parents participating in either 1) ABC with VC meetings only, 2) on-site meetings only, or 3) blended - a combination of VC and on-site sessions. In addition, 74 group leaders completed a survey about their experiences of VC groups. Analyses showed general improvements in parent practices and child conduct over time, but no differences in effectiveness depending on the format of the parent group (VC, blended, or on-site). Qualitative analyses of group leaders' experiences revealed four key-themes pertaining to both challenges (e.g., concerns about parents' ability to benefit and learn parenting skills) and benefits (e.g., reaching parents who would not have been able to attend physical meetings) of VC groups. Overall, this study showed no significant differences in outcomes between the VC, blended, or on-site format of delivery. There are however limitations of this trial, and results should be considered preliminary. Effectiveness and potential negative consequences of replacing interventions intended to be delivered on-site with VC alternatives need to be further investigated in future trials.
在新冠疫情期间，虐待儿童的发生率有所上升，同时由于限制措施，开展支持家庭的面对面干预变得困难。与此同时，许多服务机构无法获得为数字化或远程提供而设计的育儿项目。一些服务机构采用的一种解决方案是使用视频会议（VC）来提供常规育儿项目。本研究考察了在疫情期间通过视频会议而非现场会议提供的基于小组的通用育儿项目“ABC”的有效性。对469名参与以下三种情况之一的家长进行了前后测量：1）仅参加视频会议形式的ABC项目；2）仅参加现场会议；3）混合形式——视频会议和现场会议相结合。此外，74名小组组长完成了一项关于他们视频会议小组体验的调查。分析表明，随着时间推移，家长行为和孩子行为总体上有所改善，但根据家长小组的形式（视频会议、混合形式或现场会议），有效性没有差异。对小组组长体验的定性分析揭示了与视频会议小组的挑战（例如，对家长受益和学习育儿技能能力的担忧）和益处（例如，接触到原本无法参加现场会议的家长）相关的四个关键主题。总体而言，本研究表明，视频会议、混合形式或现场会议形式在结果上没有显著差异。然而，该试验存在局限性，结果应被视为初步的。用视频会议替代原本应现场提供的干预措施的有效性和潜在负面后果，需要在未来的试验中进一步研究。
