Chronic illness affects a person’s wellbeing and affects the ability to perform the social roles of spouse or parent. When working with people with long-lasting mental or somatic illnesses, social workers and nurses are confronted with needs for support, especially for parents. Although programs are in place for the children of parents with chronic illnesses, specific services for the parents themselves are scarce, as are parenting support courses for professionals. In an explorative study we investigated the similarities and differences between mental health organizations and general hospitals in providing support to parents. Using a cross-sectional design, information on supported parenting was collected through an internet questionnaire. Twice as many professionals in general hospitals can provide support to parents than did those in mental health organizations that were not trained in supported parenting. Professionals in mental health institutions generally reported that the attention paid to the parental role is insufficient. However, professionals in mental health organizations who were trained in supported parenting considered paying attention to the parental role more as a part of their job than the participants from organizations without such training. Further research should expand this first pilot study on the attitude of professionals towards supported parenting.
Chronic illness affects a person’s wellbeing and affects the ability to perform the social roles of spouse or parent. When working with people with long-lasting mental or somatic illnesses, social workers and nurses are confronted with needs for support, especially for parents. Although programs are in place for the children of parents with chronic illnesses, specific services for the parents themselves are scarce, as are parenting support courses for professionals. In an explorative study we investigated the similarities and differences between mental health organizations and general hospitals in providing support to parents. Using a cross-sectional design, information on supported parenting was collected through an internet questionnaire. Twice as many professionals in general hospitals can provide support to parents than did those in mental health organizations that were not trained in supported parenting. Professionals in mental health institutions generally reported that the attention paid to the parental role is insufficient. However, professionals in mental health organizations who were trained in supported parenting considered paying attention to the parental role more as a part of their job than the participants from organizations without such training. Further research should expand this first pilot study on the attitude of professionals towards supported parenting.
Background. A number of parenting programs, aimed at improving parenting competencies,have recently been adapted or designed with the use of online technologies. Although webbased services have been claimed to hold promise for parent support, a meta-analytic review of online parenting interventions is lacking. Method. A systematic review was undertaken of studies (n= 19), published between 2000 and 2010, that describe parenting programs of which the primary components were delivered online. Seven programs were adaptations of traditional, mostly evidence-based, parenting interventions, using the unique opportunities of internet technology. Twelve studies (with in total 54 outcomes, Ntot parents = 1,615 and Ntot children = 740) were included in a meta-analysis. Results. The meta-analysis showed a statistically significant medium effect across parents outcomes (ES = 0.67; se = 0.25) and child outcomes (ES = 0.42; se = 0.15). Conclusions. The results of this review show that webbased parenting programs with new technologies offer opportunities for sharing social support, consulting professionals and training parental competencies. The meta-analytic results show that guided and self-guided online interventions can make a significant positive contribution for parents and children. The relation with other meta-analyses in the domains of parent education and web-based interventions is discussed.
