Implementing group based parenting programs: A narrative review

Group based preventive.parenting programs are efficacious, but seem hard to implement sustainably within regular service. This review aimed to investigate specific challenges related to their implementation. Through a systematic search in several databases, we retrieved 1356 articles for title, abstract, and full-text screening. After screening, we selected 35 articles for quality rating. An established narrative approach allowed us to include 24 studies. We used an ecological approach and a recently suggested implementation construct terminology to report our findings. To date, there are no evaluations of the implementation of group based programs where implementation aspects and effectiveness are compared with other kinds of programs or formats. Hence, important research knowledge is lacking concerning implementation of group based parenting programs. Our finding indicate that certain format specific implementation aspects of group based parenting programs are perceived by practitioners as particularly challenging. For instance, scheduling of group leader workload, provision of additional services (e.g., meals and childcare), and recruitment of participants. Further, practitioners and group leaders influence implementation success and program sustainability as well as parental attitudes and reasons for participation. To highlight the importance of practitioners and parents we suggest adaptations to the ecological model approach. Overall, the theoretical foundation of current implementation research.is weak and future implementation research need to be theoretically driven. It is important to fill the existing lack of implementation knowledge because it might be one of the reasons why group based parenting programs have limited impact as preventive interventions on children's mental well-being. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.