Effect of a parenting education program on girls’ life satisfactionin governmental guidance schools of Shiraz

Introduction: One of the main determinants of adolescents’ life satisfaction isparenting skills. Due to the lack of educational trials in this field, this researchwas done to evaluate the effect of a parenting education program on girls’ lifesatisfaction in governmental guidance schools of Shiraz city.Methods: This study is aneducational randomized controlled trial. At first,152 female students in 2nd grade of governmental guidance schools and304 parents(152 mother and 152 father) were selected by multistage randomcluster sampling method. Then, they were categorized into experimental andcontrol groups. Before and after the intervention, data were collected from twogroups using multidimensional students’ life satisfaction scale with stability(Cronbach’s alpha=0.89), test–retest and correlation coefficient (r=0.70-0.90).Educational intervention for parents was performed in the experimental groupthrough presentations with question and answer, discussion in small groupsand distribution of educational booklets in 5 volumes. Finally, the data wereanalyzed using SPSS 14 and through Mann-Whitney test, Chi-square test,Fisher’s Exact test, Wilcoxon test.Results: Before the intervention, the experimental and control groups did notshow a statistically significant difference based on the demographic variables.Thetotal of life satisfaction scores and also its subscales in the experimentaland control group, before and six weeks after the educational interventiondidshowstatisticallysignificant difference (P<0.001). The scores of differences(pre-test/post-test) in total life satisfaction between the experimental andcontrol groups were statistically significant difference (P<0.001).Conclusion: According to low scores of the students in the pre-test, especiallyin the control group which didn’t undergo any educational program,holdingscheduled educational intervention is necessary. This study not only supportsthe effectiveness of educational intervention but also recommends furthereducational research to develop knowledge regarding patterns of parentingeducation.Keywords: Adolescent, life, Satisfaction