A Brief Intervention Promoting Parenting Self-Efficacy and Positive Parenting Outcomes: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

Parenting self-efficacy plays a central role in effective parenting and is associated with parental mental health, parenting practices, and children's well-being and behaviour. This pilot randomized controlled trial aimed to examine the preliminary effectiveness of a single-session parenting intervention - Care with Confidence - based on Bandura's self-efficacy theory. Eighty-three parents of typically developing school-aged children in the Greater Montreal Region were recruited in Spring 2023 and randomized to either the intervention group or waitlist control group. Participants completed baseline, post-test, and one-month follow-up assessments. Outcomes included parenting self-efficacy (Parental Sense of Competency Scale), parenting stress (Parenting Stress Scale), emotion regulation (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale), self-compassion (Self-Compassion Scale – Short Form), and child behaviours (Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire). Attendance and retention rates were moderate to high, with 69 participants (83%) completing all study components. At baseline, findings indicated that higher parenting self-efficacy was associated with lower parental stress, more adaptive emotion regulation, and fewer parent-reported child behaviour problems. Compared to controls, intervention participants reported significantly greater parenting self-efficacy and more adaptive emotion regulation at post-test and follow-up. These findings highlight the potential of brief, accessible, psychoeducational interventions to promote positive parenting and support family well-being and may inform the development of future programs aimed at strengthening parenting self-efficacy.