Overview of Intervention Programs for Parents of Young Children (0 - 6)

In most of the world’s societies and cultures, the biological mother and father bear primary responsibility to care for their child’s needs and to guide him or her through the process of entry into society [1]. The parent serves, for the most part, as the significant figure with the greatest amount of influence over the child’s life. Through his parent, the child learns the skills necessary to experience the world and function in it, whether the skills are in relation to survival needs such as eating, washing and mobility or developmental and social needs such as forming social relationships and developing the capacity to think and learn through play and supervision [2]. Thus the parent plays a critical but complex role in the development of his or her child, a role that requires development of a wide range of new behavioral, communicational, cognitive and emotional skills and capabilities in order to understand and cope with the challenges of child-rearing. Similarly, parenting styles and characteristics are influenced by a number of variables: The parent, the child, the interaction between them, and environmental variables such as culture, socio-economic status, and the existing family unit [2]. When children who suffer from behavioral difficulties do not receive the parental care they need, there is reasonable cause for concern that difficulties will develop in adulthood in a range of life areas that will have an impact on their lives and well-being and on their ability to adapt to society and contribute to it [3]. Accordingly, over the past 50 years parent-training programs have been developed to strengthen parents through learning and providing tools of experience and developmental knowledge, for the purpose of promoting the child’s sense of wellbeing and quality of life [2] [4]. Objective: The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of evidence-based interventions for parents of young children (0 6), programs that are currently active in Israel and in the world, and to explicate the significant characteristics common to them that contribute to their effectiveness and success.