The Impact of Parental Burnout Interventions on Violent and Neglectful Behaviors Toward Children

• In Event: 3-078 - Parental Burnout and its Consequences Against Children

Integrative Statement

Parental burnout (PB) is a syndrome resulting from long-term exposure to chronic stress experienced in one’s parental role (Roskam, et al., 2017). It involves four dimensions: exhaustion, contrast with previous parental self, saturation and emotional distancing towards children (Roskam, et al., 2018). PB has been shown to be a context-specific syndrome, predicted by peculiar antecedents (Mikolajczak, et al., 2017) and related to peculiar consequences (Mikolajczak, et al., 2018). These studies have emphasized the specific effect of PB on violent and neglectful behaviors towards children, compared to others burnout conditions, in a general non-specific sample of parents.
Given the severity of child maltreatment sequelae (Cicchetti, and Toth, 2016; Li, D’Arcy, and Meng, 2018), over the last decades a growing body of empirical research has investigated the effectiveness of preventive and curative interventions, with a special focus on parents support programs. These studies generally found a minor effect on the prevention or reduction of child maltreatment and revealed the focus of the intervention (support vs training, solely training vs additional focus on parental risk factors) to be a crucial component (Barlow, et al. 2008; Euser, et al. 2015). Moreover, a recent meta-analyses on this topic has stressed the need for further randomized control trial (RCT) designs and for an adequate evaluation of actual maltreatment outcomes, in order to better determine the real effect of such interventions (van der Put, et al. 2018). So far, no studies have examined the effectiveness of PB interventions, despite the importance attached to parental stress as a risk factor for child maltreatment.
As a part of a larger investigation about PB treatment, this study examined the effect of two group-based intervention programs for parents in burnout on burnout symptoms and on child maltreatment, using a randomized control trial design. We compared three conditions: the implementation of a standardized directive intervention, based on the PB theory of the Balance between Risks and Resources (Mikolajczak and Roskam, 2018); the implementation of semi-structured discussion groups of parents; and a waiting-list control (WLC) group. In line with previous literature, we expected to find a positive effect of both PB interventions on burnout symptoms (Lindström, et al., 2015) and on parents’ violent and neglectful behaviors (Mikolajczak, et al., 2018). The sample consisted of 131 parents who spontaneously applied for admission into a PB support, referring to experience from moderate to severe PB symptoms. Parents have been randomly assigned to the three conditions. Measures before, after the intervention and at 3-month follow-up assessed parental burnout symptoms and the presence violent and neglectful behaviors, both physical and psychological. Results showed a significant reduction of PB symptoms in experimental groups compared to WLC group and a larger effect of the directive intervention. Overall, we found a positive effect of both interventions on the reduction of child maltreatment compared to the WLC group and a slightly larger effect of the directive condition. Results are discussed in terms of preventive and clinical implications.

Authors

• Maria-Elena Brianda, Université catholique de Louvain
  Presenting Author

• Moïra Mikolajczak, Université catholique de Louvain
  Non-Presenting Author