Impact of the better parenting intervention on parental attitude and practices

Introduction: Yekokeb Berhan Program for Highly Vulnerable Children (HVC) in Ethiopia promotes Better Parenting Training for parents and caregivers of HVC in its project sites. It is assumed that the positive parenting... [ view full abstract ]

Introduction: Yekokeb Berhan Program for Highly Vulnerable Children (HVC) in Ethiopia promotes Better Parenting Training for parents and caregivers of HVC in its project sites. It is assumed that the positive parenting attitudes and practices that the training promotes enhances the desired outcome of improving HVC’s well beings.
Objective: The evaluation addressed two questions: Is the Better Parenting intervention effective in changing parental/caregiver parenting attitudes and practices?; and, Do changes in parenting attitudes and practices lead to improvements in children’s behaviours and wellbeing
Methods: The study employed a quasi-experimental design with mixed method. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method was used to minimize selection biases in allocating subjects into intervention and control groups. A random sampling procedure was used to select 854 households (427 intervention and 427 control).
Results.
The intervention group were 2.3 times more likely to have positive attitude on parenting responsibilities (95% CI: 1.40-3.93), 1.9 times more likely to have positive attitude on communication with children (CI: 1.45-3.21), and 1.8 times more likely to have positive attitude on positive child disciplining and monitoring (CI: 1.16-3.03), compared to caregivers from the control group.
The intervention participants were three times more likely to practice firm and fair parenting style (95% CI: 1.72-5.30), 3.8 times more likely to practice positive child disciplining and monitoring (95% CI: 2.24-6.58), and 1.9 times more likely to communicate with children (95% CI: 1.10-3.18), compared to the control group. On the other hand, intervention participants were less likely to have permissive parenting style [(OR=0.32; 95% CI (0.16, 0.45)] and less likely to practice authoritarian or controlling parenting style [OR=0.26; 95% CI (0.15, 0.45)] than their counterparts in the control group.
Conclusion
Both from the quantitative and qualitative studies, demonstrate positive impacts of the Better Parenting intervention on parenting attitudes and practices among primary caregivers of HVC.