Enhancing parental well-being: initial efficacy of a 21-day online self-help mindfulness-based intervention for parents

Cheung, R. Y. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0998-7991, Chan, S. K. C., Chui, H., Chan, W. M. and Ngai, S. Y. S. (2022) Enhancing parental well-being: initial efficacy of a 21-day online self-help mindfulness-based intervention for parents. Mindfulness, 13 (11). pp. 2812-2826. ISSN 1868-8527 doi: 10.1007/s12671-022-01998-1

Abstract/Summary

Objectives Parental self-care is extremely important in the face of stress throughout parenthood. A 21-day online mindfulness-based intervention was developed that was aimed at enhancing parental well-being. The present study evaluated this intervention by examining its practicality, perceived acceptability, and initial efficacy on parents’ mindfulness, parenting stress, subjective well-being, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Methods Participants were 273 parents (90.11% mothers) who were randomly assigned to the 21-day mindfulness-based intervention group (n = 136) or waitlist control group (n = 137). Pre-intervention assessment, immediate post-intervention assessment, and 30-day follow-up assessment were conducted to assess parents’ mindfulness, parenting stress, subjective well-being, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Results Linear mixed models indicated that the group × time effect on subjective well-being, anxiety symptoms, and mindfulness were significant, after controlling sex, age, education, income, habit of mindfulness practice, hours of weekly mindfulness practice, and diagnostic history of psychiatric disorder. Follow-up analyses indicated that compared to baseline, participants from the intervention group reported significantly greater subjective well-being and mindfulness, and fewer symptoms of anxiety than did those from the waitlist control group. The group × time effects on parenting stress and depressive symptoms were non-significant. Exploratory findings further suggested practicality and perceived acceptability of the intervention. Conclusion This study showed initial efficacy of a 21-day online mindfulness-based intervention on parents’ subjective well-being, anxiety symptoms, and mindfulness. The findings inform researchers and practitioners about the utility of a brief mindfulness-based intervention in promotion parental well-being. Other areas of feasibility warrant future investigation.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/107914
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology
Uncontrolled Keywords	anxiety symptoms; initial efficacy; mindfulness-based intervention; parents; subjective well-being
Publisher	Springer
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