Parenting interventions targeting early parenting difficulty: A scoping review

Parent and child wellbeing are reciprocal. Attentive, responsive parenting, is contingent on parental wellbeing. Insights into mechanisms of early parenting interventions that seek to improve parent and child outcomes are needed. This scoping review aimed to systematically map research reporting on parenting interventions for parents experiencing early parenting difficulty. A secondary aim was to synthesise existing research using a realist lens, to provide context, mechanism and outcome insights into elements of early parenting interventions. A systematic search was conducted across six databases within the publication period of 2010-2020, to identify evidence on interventions targeting early parenting difficulty. Using pre-determined inclusion criteria, fifteen studies were selected for review. Deductive reflexive thematic analysis identified three themes: conceptual disparities in early parenting difficulty, early parenting intervention diversity and an absence of theory to explain interventions or outcomes. Neither early parenting difficulty nor the theoretical basis for early parenting interventions were well defined. Identification of contexts, mechanisms and outcomes of early parenting interventions is a unique contribution of this study. These insights may be used to inform planning, implementation and evaluation activities to promote context-focused, early parenting interventions targeting a critical phase of child development.