Upbringing and parenting. Detection of socio-educational and training needs in parents.

Abstract

Parents often ask themselves what to do and how to deal with the different situations that arise with their children. Parent education programmes (PEP) attempt to provide answers to these questions. Nevertheless, it is pertinent to perform an updated assessment of parents’ training and socio-educational needs in relation to the upbringing and parenting of children. To this end, the following objectives were set: a) to determine the degree of compliance with the principles of positive parenting (PPP) in a sample of mothers and fathers; b) to detect clusters of parents according to PPP and socio-demographic characteristics; c) to identify their preferences regarding training and attendance at these interventions. The sample consisted of 389 parents. Qualitative content and quantitative descriptive and multivariate cluster analyses were performed and Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H, Binomial and Chi-square tests were applied. Results showed lower scores for communication, stress management and involvement, and higher scores for shared activities, recognition and affection. Four clusters of parents were obtained (low, medium, high and very high PPP follow-up). They expressed a preference for the group format of the programme, attendance at weekends, in the afternoon and when the children are in early childhood. Some of the training content mentioned was related to emotions, communication, conflict resolution, behaviour management, information and communication technologies, values, norms, sexuality and drugs. Respondents require interventions that take into account the priorities expressed. The findings will allow us to confirm whether the interventions implemented and evaluated in the context explored are a suitable response to the needs detected, and also to justify the design of any new ones, if necessary.