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Although previous quantitative studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of the mother-child education programme (MOCEP) that originated in Turkey in 1993, the study reported here uses a qualitative approach to gain an in-depth understanding of mothers' views of the outcomes of the programme. The study was conducted with 100 mothers from five different countries (Turkey, Belgium, Switzerland, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia) and designed to investigate their perceptions of the effects of the programme, and the essential factors in its effectiveness. In-depth interviews were used for data collection. The findings revealed that participant mothers perceived changes in their child's overall development and in the mother-child relationship, and indirect effects in their relationship with the child's father and the father's relationship with the child. Mothers also reported that the group meetings attended by all the mothers, the characteristics of the teacher and the curriculum of the cognitive education programme were important factors in the effectiveness of the programme. The results of the study regarding what mothers experienced and perceived as changes in children and in themselves were similar to the results obtained from previous quantitative research carried out to evaluate MOCEP. The present study, however, provides new information about how the programme works, why the mothers attended the programme and their experiences with their environment regarding the programme.