The Triple P – Positive Parenting Programme: the effectiveness of group Triple P and brief parent discussion group in school settings in Hong Kong
| Published date | 21 December 2015 |
| Date | 21 December 2015 |
| Pages | 339-352 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-08-2014-0039 |
| Author | Selina Chung,Cynthia Leung,Matthew Sanders |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Children's services |
The Triple P –Positive Parenting
Programme: the effectiveness of group
Triple P and brief parent discussion
group in school settings in Hong Kong
Selina Chung, Cynthia Leung and Matthew Sanders
Selina Chung is Educational
Psychologist at the Department
of Applied Social Sciences,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic
University, Hong Kong,
Hong Kong.
Cynthia Leung is based at the
Department of Applied Social
Sciences, The Hong Kong
Polytechnic University,
Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Matthew Sanders is based at
the Parenting and Family
Support Centre, The University
of Queensland, Brisbane,
Australia.
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of two intervention
formats of the Positive Parenting Programme (Triple P) –Level 4 Group Triple P (TP) and brief parent
discussion group (DI) with the waitlist control group (WL).
Design/methodology/approach –Participants included 91 Chinese parents with preschool children in
Hong Kong from eight preschools, who were randomised into the two intervention conditions (TP and DI) and
a waitlist control group (WL). Parent participants completed measures on child behaviours and parenting
stress before and after intervention.
Findings –Results indicated that there was a significant decrease in post-intervention child behavioural
problems in the TP group, with a medium effect size when compared to the WL group. There was
a decrease in post-intervention child behaviour problems in the DI group, compared with the WL group.
No significant difference was found in post-intervention child behaviour problems between the TP group
and the DI group.
Practical implications –The positive results in the present study support the extension of the
implementation of Triple P interventions to the preschool setting in Hong Kong. The effectiveness of the brief
parent discussion group in reducing parental report of child behaviour problems provides preliminary support
for its potential as a universal preventive parenting intervention in the local context.
Originality/value –The study was the first evaluation of the Level-4 Triple P programme in a local school
context as well as the first evaluation of effectiveness of the brief parent discussion group in the local context
at the time of the study.
Keywords Chinese, Programme evaluation, Brief intervention, Parent education, Triple P, Parenting, RCT
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The importance of parent training has been well recognised in early childhood education, social
and psychological services (Campbell and Palm, 2004). Parenting programmes have been
delivered in a variety of formats, including large group seminars, smaller group programmes,
topic specific discussion groups, television programmes and online programmes (Hutchings and
Webster-Stratton, 2004). Group parent training has been continuously found to be an effective
way to provide parents with information in a supportive context with face-to-face interaction with
other parents (Auerbach, 1968; Braun et al., 1984; Carter, 1996).
While there are many different existing theoretical approaches to parent training and family
interventions, “behavioural family intervention”(BFI) has received the most empirical support
Received 25 August 2014
Revised 26 February 2015
Accepted 1 April 2015
DOI 10.1108/JCS-08-2014-0039 VOL. 10 NO. 4 2015, pp. 339-352, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-6660
j
JOURNAL OF CHILDREN'S SERVICES
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PAG E 33 9
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