Surveying positive parenting interventions in educational, health, child protection and social services: A Portuguese study

Gathering information on the variety of types of parental support in Portugal can provide relevant data on its scope, organisation, modes of delivery, funding and, envision how effectively are parent needs being covered.... [ view full abstract ]

Gathering information on the variety of types of parental support in Portugal can provide relevant data on its scope, organisation, modes of delivery, funding and, envision how effectively are parent needs being covered. Parent support services include the provision of information, advice, education and counselling on child care and parent-child relations. The majority of these provisions is carried out in universal accessible resources such as schools units, health and social services in the family community. Like in many European countries, positive parenting has become an issue in family policymaking, however no systematic survey has supplied us with knowledge about such interventions. Aiming at overcoming this lack of information, we conducted a survey to get essential information on positive parenting actions being implemented with a psychoeducational frame in the sectors of education, health and social services. An online questionnaire was specifically developed addressing the modes of delivery, scope, organizational setting, length and regularity, and professional profiles. Participants were psychologists, social workers, healthcare professionals (e.g., nurses, paediatricians) pedagogues at work in guidance and counselling services in public schools, health centres, ONG and communitarian social services and child protection agencies. The results allow to map positive parenting interventions by sector and region in Portugal identifying trends from flexible less-structured to evidence-based practices. In the discussion we highlight the possible impact of the present study to boost parenting policy and family needs assessment.