Group-Based Parent-Training Programmes for Improving Emotional and Behavioural Adjustment in 0-3 Year Old Children : A Systematic Review

Abstract

Parenting practices play a significant role in the development of emotional and behavioural problems in children, and parenting programmes which are aimed at the parents of infants and toddlers thereby have the potential to prevent the occurrence of such problems. The findings of this review provide some support for the use of group-based parenting programmes to improve the emotional and behavioural adjustment of children under the age of 3 years. The limited evidence available concerning the extent to which these results are maintained over time, however, is equivocal, and it may be that during this period of rapid change in the infant's development, further input at a later date is required. More research is needed before questions of this nature can be answered.