Evaluation of a Mindfulness-Based Early-Childhood Behavioral Parenting Program that Promotes Parent and Child Well-Being in High-Risk Contexts

Two studies were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief (6-week) mindfulness-based behavioral parenting program offered in community settings to parents of preschool-age children living in low-income or high-adversity contexts.

Study 1 was a quasi-experimental, waitlist control study conducted with 53 parents whose children were enrolled in Head-Start or similar early childhood program. Study 2 evaluated the program when it was delivered synchronously online with 28 parents living in transitional housing or who were unhoused and whose children attended an early learning program. Assessments included parent-reported mindfulness problems, mental health symptoms, parenting and child social competence, and internalizing and externalizing problems. Study 1 also included observational ratings of parenting behaviors.

Study 1 treatment group (n = 27) showed significant improvements or positive trends in mindfulness, parental warmth, scaffolding, acceptance, anxiety symptoms, parent-reported rejection, and child internalizing and externalizing problems when compared to waitlist participants (n = 26). Study 2 participants (n = 28) reported increases in consistent limit setting, child social competence, decreases in internalizing, and a tendency toward reduced parental anxiety symptoms from pretest to post-test, and treatment effects were maintained at follow-up. Parents’ satisfaction with the program was high, and attendance improved when the program was delivered online.

Preliminary results suggest that this brief mindfulness-based behavioral parenting program may improve parental anxiety and parenting behaviors, as well as children’s adjustment. The program is acceptable to parents who participated and feasibly implemented both in person and online in community settings with parents living in low-income contexts.

This study is not preregistered.