Parents' experiences of the Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (
SPACE
) online group intervention: A longitudinal interpretative phenomenological analysis
Rebecca Egan, Gary Byrne, Lorraine Swords, Kristin Hadfield Abstract
Introduction
Childhood anxiety is a prevalent mental health concern, and much research has focused on the development of related interventions. The Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) program is a parent‐only intervention that focuses on reducing child anxiety by targeting family accommodations (FA). The current study aims to explore parents' perspectives of attending the intervention, with a specific focus on the temporal progression of parents' sense‐making relating to their child's anxiety and family accommodations.
Methods
Ten parents who attended a SPACE intervention were interviewed at two time points, pre‐intervention and post‐intervention. Semi‐structured interviews were analysed using a Longitudinal Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (LIPA) approach.
Results
Two superordinate themes emerged: (1) ‘ It's hard not to intervene’ ‐ The evolution of parent responding highlighted progressions of parent narratives about child anxiety, and accommodating behaviours across the time points, while (2) From doubt to self‐efficacy – Parents' journey through the intervention reflected evolution of parental experiences throughout the intervention.
Conclusion
Findings suggested shifts in parents' conceptualization of their child's anxiety, and changes in their responding from Time 1 to Time 2. These insights contribute to the growing evidence base for SPACE, and have implications for clinical practice. Directions for future research are discussed.