Publication year
2017
Citation Title
Parent engagement in online mindfulness exercises within a parent training program for post-deployed military families.
Journal Name
Mindfulness
DOI
10.1007/s12671-017-0810-2
Summary
Online mindfulness training has the potential to reduce military parents' stress level and improve their parenting practice, but little is known about the engagement level of military parents with online mindfulness training or the effectiveness of such training. This study investigated military parents' experiences of an online mindfulness training program. Results revealed modest participation rates of military parents and positive associations between training engagement and parents' dispositional mindfulness.
Key Findings
Nearly half of participants (44.6%) engaged with the online mindfulness training.
Participants who attended in-person group meetings were more likely to finish all the online mindfulness training sessions, whereas participants who never attended group meetings only engaged with the online training during the first month.
Mothers engaged with online mindfulness training more than fathers and they were more likely to self-report increased dispositional mindfulness six months after the intervention.
Implications for Program Leaders
Incorporate a mindfulness-informed approach to parenting programs so that parents can learn how to use mindfulness skills to reduce their stress level
Offer parenting programs both online and in-person so that different parents' needs can be met
Design parenting programs according to fathers' interest and needs to increase fathers' engagement level
Implications for Policy Makers
Continue to support research and programs that promote positive parenting practice in military families
Encourage training for professionals who work with military parents on how to incorporate a mindfulness-informed approach to teach parents to reduce stress associated with parenting and deployment
Support programs aimed at increasing family well-being during the deployment cycle
Methods
Data were obtained from a larger study that evaluated the effectiveness of the After Deployment Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT) program; the method of recruitment was not reported.
All participants were invited to attend 14 in-person group sessions and use online supplemental mindfulness exercises (OSMEs); measures included OSME engagement (the frequency of "clicks" on the OSME website) and dispositional mindfulness (mindfulness practice) at baseline and six months after intervention.
Data were analyzed to examine participants' online engagement in mindfulness exercise as well as the associations between engagement and dispositional mindfulness.
Participants
Participants were 370 parents (female = 190) from 207 military families who enrolled in the program; each family had at least one parent who had been deployed and at least one child aged 4-12 years at the time of the study.
The average age of participants was 36.79 years (SD = 6.04, age range = 24-52) and the majority of participants were White (91%), the race/ethnicity of the rest of the participants was not reported.
Participants served in National Guard or the Reserve.
Limitations
The design of the study did now allow for examining the causal relationships between online training engagement and dispositional mindfulness; therefore, it is not clear whether parents' training engagement caused dispositional mindfulness, or vise versa.
Most participants were White, so the results cannot be generalized to people of other race/ethnicity background.
Parents' online training engagement was operationalized as the frequency of "clicks" on the training website, but some parents might download the training materials and study them without going online; therefore, the measure may not accurately represent parents' engagement with the training.
Avenues for Future Research
Design experimental studies to examine the causal relationship between online training engagement and parents' dispositional mindfulness
Recruit participants from a diverse race/ethnicity background to increase the generalizability of the study
Measure parents' online training engagement by not only recording their "clicks" of the website, but also letting them self-report their level of engagement
Focus
Multiple Branches
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Component
Abstract
Mindfulness has drawn increased attention in prevention programs targeting parents. Commonly, mindfulnessbased programs are provided to reduce parental stress and improve child outcomes. Less often, researchers incorporate a mindfulness-informed approach, integrating a low dose of mindfulness exercises into an existing evidence-based parent training model. Little is known about participant engagement with mindfulness exercises in such programs. This nonexperimental study focuses on families who are at risk for impaired parenting due to the unique stressor of a parent’s deployment to war. The goal is to examine military parents’ online engagement in mindfulness exercises and associations between engagement and dispositional mindfulness within a web-enhanced parent training program. Online tracking records and self-reported data were obtained from 370 military parents (207 families) who were assigned to the program; at 6-month follow-up, 68.6% of these parents were retained (at least one parent reported from 75.4% of families). Results showed that nearly half (44.6%) of the parents engaged with the exercises. Participants who attended face-to-face group sessions (i.e., attendees) engaged throughout the intervention period, whereas participants who never attended group sessions (i.e., non-attendees) mostly engaged during the first month in the program. Attendees and mothers engaged more than non-attendees and fathers. While engaged parents selfreported
increased dispositional mindfulness at 6-month follow- up compared to baseline, only mothers’ engagement accounted for a significant proportion of the variance (3%) in dispositional mindfulness at 6-month follow-up, after controlling for covariates. Implications for incorporating online mindfulness exercises into parent training are discussed in the context of programming for military families.
increased dispositional mindfulness at 6-month follow- up compared to baseline, only mothers’ engagement accounted for a significant proportion of the variance (3%) in dispositional mindfulness at 6-month follow-up, after controlling for covariates. Implications for incorporating online mindfulness exercises into parent training are discussed in the context of programming for military families.
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