Improving parental self-efficacy in parents of children awaiting neurodevelopmental assessment: A parent group waiting list intervention.

Background: Increased parental self-efficacy has been found to have positive effects on parental skills and stress levels, as well as behavioural outcomes for children. This is particularly relevant in relation to neurodivergent children and young people, who tend to present with more behavioural challenges related to emotion regulation difficulties. To assist with the issue of long wait times, a pilot parent group intervention was delivered to parents of children awaiting neurodevelopmental assessment who were presenting with emotion regulation difficulties. The aim of this study was to increase parental self-efficacy. Method: Psychoeducational parent group sessions were delivered online over five sessions to nine families. The sessions included psychoeducation around emotion regulation difficulties and strategies for managing these at home. Results: Parental self-efficacy scores significantly increased following intervention. Conclusions: Parental self-efficacy can be increased via group psychoeducation sessions aimed at understanding and improving emotion regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]