Primary prevention of parent-child conflict and abuse in Iranian mothers: a randomized-controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess whether primary health care settings can be used to engage and provide a preventive intervention to mothers of young children. METHODS Two hundred and twenty-four mothers who had come to the health centers were randomly assigned to either control group (CG: n=116) or intervention group (IG: n=108). Mothers in IG were taught about the role of parenting skills in families and common mistakes in parenting in 2-h-weekly sessions for 2 successive weeks. A parenting questionnaire was distributed to mothers at pre-test and after 8 weeks from the last training session. RESULTS Compared to the CG, there were significant improvements from pre- to post-test in IG on measures of Parenting Scales (PS) total scores and Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale-modified (CTSPCm) total scores. This improvement was maintained at 8-week follow up. CONCLUSION The results support previous international studies that primary health care settings can be used successfully to engage and provide preventive interventions to mothers of young children. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Within health centers of Iran where parents routinely bring their children for monitoring of growth or vaccinating against some disease, mothers with a child aged between 2 and 6 years received a parent training. The program gave skills for managing misbehavior and preventing child behavior problems. Mothers reported that their behaviors improved from pre-treatment to post-treatment measured at 8-week follow up. The current work may lead decision-makers to organize this program for all of the health centers to train Iranian mothers.