| Summary: | Aim: To explore the effectiveness of an adapted parenting intervention, Parenting with Anxiety: Helping Anxious Parents Raise Confident Children (PWA), delivered by a Trainee Educational Psychologist (TEP), in reducing parental perceptions of child anxiety. Subsidiary to this, the research aimed to explore parental perceptions of the intervention.
Design: Following a pragmatic ontology, an embedded, mixed-methods design was employed. Quantitative data was gathered to answer the overarching research question. A one group pre-test post-test design was used, with child anxiety measured before and after the intervention. Qualitative data was gathered using a focus group, to explore the subsidiary research question. Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) was used to analyse the data.
Research Purpose: To address a gap in the research, offering Educational Psychologists (EPs) evidence regarding the effectiveness of a parenting intervention for parents with anxiety, in reducing Intergenerational Transmission of anxiety when delivered by a TEP, in schools. In line with the aims of evaluation research, it hopes to offer insight into how the intervention may have worked (or not), and how it may be improved to reduce child anxiety.
Findings: Quantitative findings showed a reduction in overall child anxiety scores pre- versus post-intervention. Meta-inferences were given, using qualitative findings to support a more complete understanding of quantitative results. Generated themes suggested parents experienced a decrease in anxiogenic parenting behaviours, and in increase in ‘good and brave’ child behaviours, following the intervention. Parents suggested intervention improvements. The findings from this mixed-methods study are critically reviewed and considered alongside existing research. Implications for government policy, future research and the work of EPs is discussed considering the novel findings. Importantly, it is suggested that EPs may deliver the adapted PWA intervention to reduce child anxiety.
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