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In response to what are perceived as the negative consequences for children of family change over the past century, governments in the UK and the US have devoted substantial funds to programmes to strengthen families, but the focus of intervention in the two countries has moved in opposite directions. In the UK, financial support has shifted away from couple strengthening to parenting programmes, while in the US financial support has shifted substantially toward couple‐focused interventions. This review article summarises studies relevant to these policy choices. We present research evidence for a multidomain family risk‐child outcome model, and then describe the results of three studies using a randomised clinical trial design to examine the impact of intervention with couples on children's adaptation. The data support the hypothesis that interventions focusing on strengthening couple relationships may have a more positive impact on families and children than interventions that focus on increasing parenting skills.

The purpose of this paper is to refute See and Gorard’s paper published in this journal in 2015 which argues that parent-based interventions for school readiness are ineffective.

Methods and results from 107 studies that were cited in See and Gorard (2015a) and associated reports were reviewed. Evaluations were made based on comparing the original studies with the summaries of those studies in the publication.

In this rebuttal, the authors show how See and Gorard erred to correctly report methods, sample sizes, outcomes measured, and the actual results of prior research.

The authors suggest that See and Gorard do not provide solid evidence within their article to back up their claims about parent intervention programs. This rigorous review of See and Gorard’s primary sources reveals that the empirical evidence stands contrary to the claims being made. See and Gorard inaccurately reviewed publications which contradict their conclusions, and they relied on a vast amount of unpublished papers by students to support their claims.

The authors demonstrate how See and Gorard misapplied their own standards of evaluation; the authors claim that their source materials contradict the “finding” they purport to present; and the authors argue that they chose lesser known studies when more reputable ones were available.

Digitally delivered, parent-focused interventions (DD-PFIs) are viewed as an important method for supporting child well-being. Few DD-PFIs include health-promotion and general-parenting content, and only some are intended for a universal audience. The purpose of this paper is to focus on a preliminary evaluation of Grow Online, which was designed to address this gap.

A mixed-methods design, including pretests and posttests and semi-structured interviews, was employed to evaluate program feasibility and demonstrate proof of concept.

Feasibility findings were favorable, which indicates participants were satisfied with the program, liked the main program features, found the content helpful and had a positive experience using the website. Initial recruitment was strong, and engagement with the sessions was high; however, retention was poor with a 73.5 percent attrition rate. Significant pre- to post-changes were found on measures of over-reactive discipline, parenting efficacy, emotion coaching, coping socialization, child physical activity support, rewarding eating and child externalizing and internalizing behaviors.

Study design and high attrition limit the ability to infer causality and generalize beyond the sample.

Providing support to parents through a universal health-promoting DD-PFI is viable, though issues involving retention need to be given full consideration.

Parents use of technology to access child care information is increasing, but most information online is not evidence-informed. Grow Online fills an important gap in the research and practice of DD-PFIs, and this study’s findings suggest a more rigorous evaluation is merited.

Despite the importance of increasing engagement and minimising attrition and drop‐out in parenting interventions, there is a paucity of empirical evidence examining factors related to engagement and participation. The range of factors examined in relation to engagement is generally limited in scope and variety, focusing on variables of convenience rather than utilising a theoretically‐driven approach.The aim of this article is to review the factors related to parental engagement with interventions and to describe strategies and implications for improving engagement with parenting interventions. Several policy and practice implications are identified: (1) Poor parental engagement may threaten or compromise the capacity of parenting programmes to deliver valued outcomes. Viable engagement strategies need to be a core part of prevention and early intervention parenting programmes; (2) Agencies delivering parenting services need a proactive engagement strategy, which includes strategies to prevent drop‐out, as well as strategies to actively respond to parental disengagement; (3) Research is needed to test the efficacy and robustness of different engagement enhancement strategies. Empirical tests are needed to test the effectiveness of different engagement strategies in order to ensure that the most efficient, cost‐effective and efficacious approach is used in order to engage parents. Investment of research effort to improve parental engagement is likely to have a high yield in terms of programme efficiency, utility and cost effectiveness. We conclude that research examining how to improve engagement and decrease non‐completion is needed to strengthen the population level value of parenting programmes as preventive interventions.

Parent-focused interventions (PFIs) are a promising method for supporting parents and promoting children’s well-being. Few PFIs in the USA, however, include physical health promotion content and are universal programs. The purpose of this paper is to describe a universal health-promoting PFI for parents of elementary school-aged children and demonstrate proof of concept.

The program emphasizes positive parenting practices, stress management skills and physical health promotion strategies and recommendations, and is part of a larger initiative that includes a continuum of universal, developmentally appropriate, health-promoting PFIs for civilian and military parents. The program was implemented at two community sites in rural Pennsylvania with 20 civilian parents completing pretests and posttests. Study measures assessed parenting, stress and stress management and physical health promotion related outcomes.

Parents reported decreases in suboptimal discipline and feeding practices, stress and child internalizing behavior. They also reported increases in their sense of control in managing child behavior, coping socialization, child’s outdoor playtime and health recommendations met.

While these preliminary findings may not be generalizable, they serve as proof of concept, which suggests that more rigorous research on the program is warranted.

Implementing a universal, health-promoting PFI within the USA is viable and has the potential to impact multiple short-term outcomes.

Parents are among their child’s earliest and most influential educators, and this study lends further support to their role as health educators. Given the significant public health benefits of holistically promoting child health, the time has come for universal PFIs to begin including physical health promotion content.

The aim of this article is to summarise the available evidence from systematic reviews about the effectiveness of interventions to prevent or treat child physical abuse and neglect. A computerised search was undertaken of major electronic databases up to December 2005 using key search terms. Only systematic reviews were included in which the primary studies evaluated the effectiveness of targeted or indicated interventions for child physical abuse or neglect. A total of 31 systematic reviews were identified and 15 met all the inclusion criteria. They covered a range of interventions/services, including home visiting, parenting programmes, multi‐component interventions, intensive family preservation services, family‐focused casework and multi‐systemic family therapy. There was limited evidence of the effectiveness of services in improving objective measures of abuse and neglect, due in part to methodological issues involved in their measurement, but good evidence of modest benefits in improving a range of outcomes that are associated with physical abuse and neglect, including parental and family functioning and child development. The results also showed some interventions (eg. media‐based and perinatal coaching) to be ineffective with high‐risk families. The evidence provided by these reviews has clear implications for children's services in the UK and other western developed countries.

Employing brief, low-intensity, face-to-face parenting programs can result in improvements in parenting and child behavior; however, their usefulness is often limited by low participation rates. Online technologies are increasingly presented as a panacea for promoting program reach in a cost-effective way. The extant literature, however, provides limited guidance on issues around the implementation of online parenting programs. Grow is a universal, health-promoting parenting program that targets families with 5–10 year olds and was developed for face-to-face delivery and then adapted for a web-based format. The purpose of this paper is to present implementation results from feasibility proof of concept studies of Grow Face-to-Face and Grow Online and explores issues regarding mode of delivery and parent participation.

Data were gathered from participants using attendance records, end-of-module/session surveys and semi-structured, in-depth interviews, and were examined using descriptive statistics and inductive thematic analysis.

Findings suggest that, compared to the online implementation, recruitment was more difficult for the face-to-face implementation. Conversely, retention in the online program was poorer than in the face-to-face program. Participants from both programs self-reported high levels of engagement and satisfaction. Parents who completed Grow Online expressed a desire for more interpersonal interactions, which suggests a possible need for hybrid programs that combine online technologies with traditional face-to-face modes of delivery.

These findings challenge the idea that the internet can fully address barriers to parenting program participation by showing that while parents may sign up more readily for an online program, they may struggle to complete all modules. This is problematic as program dosage can influence parent and child outcomes.

Interest in employee mindfulness has increased dramatically in recent years, fueled by several important conceptual articles, numerous studies documenting the benefits of mindfulness for employee outcomes, and the adoption of mindfulness-based practices in many Fortune 500 organizations. Despite this growing interest, the vast majority of research on employee mindfulness has taken an intrapersonal focus, failing to appreciate the ways in which mindfulness may enhance work-related relational processes and outcomes. The authors explore possible associations between mindfulness and relationally oriented workplace phenomena, drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship examining mindfulness in romantic relationships, child–parent relationships, patient–healthcare provider relationships, and student–teacher relationships. A framework is proposed that links mindfulness to three distinct relationally oriented processes, which are expected to have downstream effects on work-related relational outcomes. The authors then take the proposed framework and discuss possible extensions to a variety of unique workplace relationships and discuss critical next steps in advancing the relational science of mindfulness.

Four reputed leaders for the coming years in the field of special education for individuals with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) each with a slightly different perspective on the field were asked to respond independently to a prompt asking what does special education mean for students with EBD and what is being done and how do we maintain tradition? The contributors' responses to the prompt are presented and then summarized across the essays. A remarkable consistency emerges across the independent essays. In addition to the tradition of providing a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment, the contributors identify needs to support teachers serving this population. Needs in teacher training and the expertise required to meet the needs of individuals with EBD are outlined as well as potential contributions of technology to carry out specific tasks. We conclude with a call for increased advocacy for use of the knowledge that we currently possess and that which will soon be discovered to support students with EBD as well as their teachers. We also note that the contributors' names are listed alphabetically to acknowledge the equality of each person to the final product.

Parenting programmes are seen as feasible and cost-effective in preventing early behavioural problems in children and adolescents. A number of studies have concluded that such programmes are effective in reducing child problem behaviours and improving the skills and well-being of parents. Nevertheless, less is known about long-term programme effects. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A non-meta-analytic discussion.

Long-term evaluations of parenting programmes suffer from a number of methodological weaknesses resulting in an inability to make robust causal inferences about child and parent outcomes in the longer term. The current evidence is favourable but is likely to be biased by methodological weaknesses. There is a need for more studies of greater methodological strength to obtain conclusive evidence that would guide empirical research, practice and policy.

The paper discusses weaknesses in long-term evaluations of parenting programmes and highlights concrete future directions towards improving the quality of study design, evaluation and data analysis.