Review: group based parenting programmes improve short term mental health in infants and toddlers
QUESTION: Does a group based parent training programme improve the short term mental health of children under 3 years of age?
Data sources
Studies were identified by searching Medline (1970–2001), EMBASE/Excerpta Medica (1974–2001), Biological Abstracts (1985–2001), British Nursing Index (1994–2001), CINAHL (1982–2001), PsycINFO (1970–2001), Sociological Abstracts (1963–2001), Social Science Citation Index (1994–2001), ASSIA, the Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2001), the National Research Register (Issue 4, 2001), Dissertation Abstracts (1980–2001), ERIC, and bibliographies of relevant papers.
Study selection
Randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials were selected if they compared a group based parenting programme with a waiting list or no treatment control, involved parents of children aged 0–3 years, and measured child mental health on ≥1 standardised instrument.
Data extraction
Data were extracted on study quality, participants, interventions, and outcomes. Authors were contacted to obtain missing data.
Main results
5 studies of behavioural or cognitive behavioural parenting group programmes were included (190 participants, involving 36 assessments …
