The effects of child abuse prevention education on parents’ response to positive emotion, parenting stress, and child abuse potential: A randomized controlled pretest posttest design

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a child abuse prevention education program for parents. Furthermore, the aim was to investigate the impact of child abuse prevention education on parents’ response to positive emotion, parenting stress, and potential for child abuse.Methods: A randomized controlled pretest posttest design was used. A total of 60 participants, who were parents with children aged 1~5 and attending 8 nurseries and kindergartens located in Daegu, were recruited. They were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n=30) and a control group (n=30). The collected data were analyzed by an independent t-test, paired t-test, and χ²-test along with descriptive statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0. Child abuse prevention education for the experimental group included four modules on child rights, understanding child abuse, proper child discipline, and positive parenting attitudes.Results: The experimental group showed a significant difference in positive rumination from the control group (t=2.15, p=.036). The experimental group reported a significant difference in dampening from the control group (t=-2.49, p=.016). Additionally, the experimental group reported a significant difference in parenting stress from the control group (t=-2.12, p=.038) and also reported significant differences in child abuse potential from the control group (t=-2.26, p=.028).Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that child abuse prevention education for parents can improve positive rumination, reduce dampening, and reduce parenting stress and child abuse potential. Therefore, this study is useful in demonstrating how parental susceptibility to child abuse can be decreased. Future studies should pursue long-term programs and counseling programs.