The Effectiveness of the Adults and Children Together - Parents Raising Safe Kids Program in Reducing Behavioral and Emotional Problems among Preschool Children

Introduction: The Adults and Children Together - Parents Raising Safe Kids (ACT-PRSK) program is an evidence-based approach that was proposed by the American Psychological Association (APA). The present study was carried out in order to examine the effectiveness of the ACT-PRSK program in reducing behavioral and emotional problems among preschool children.Method: The present experiment was a quasi-experimental study that was conducted using a pretest-posttest-follow up design with a control group. The study sample consisted of ۳۲ parents of preschool children that had symptoms of behavioral and emotional problems. The participants were randomly assigned into an experimental group and a control one (each containing ۱۶ individuals). The experimental group received ACT-PRSK program.Results: The results of mixed analysis of variance and Bonferroni test showed that the ACT-PRSK program was significantly effective in reducing behavioral and emotional problems except for psychosomatic problems among the experimental parents’ children. Moreover, the effects of the intervention were stable after ۲ months.Conclusion: This educational program focuses on parent-child interaction, enhances the parents’ understanding of their children’s behaviors and emotions, and models appropriate behavioral styles, which leads to a change in the parents’ attitude, and thus, results in a change in the parents’ behavior while interacting with their children. It seems that a change in interaction to a large extent leads to a change in the children’s behavior.

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Keywords: Parent Education , ACT-PRSK Program , Behavioral and Emotional Program , preschool children