Parents' experiences of the Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) online group intervention: A longitudinal interpretative phenomenological analysis.

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.