An emotion coaching parenting intervention for families exposed to intimate partner violence.

Abstract

The current study describes a promising new emotion coaching (EC) parenting intervention for survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) targeting emotion regulation (ER) and parent–child relationships. We discuss the development of an EC parenting intervention, outline its key elements, and use preliminary pilot data to illustrate how such a behavioral intervention can yield improvements in behavioral and physiological indices of ER (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) and parent–child relationships and reductions in mental health difficulties in IPV-exposed mothers and their children. A 12-week skills-based EC parenting program was developed and administered in groups. Fifty mothers were assigned to intervention or waitlist groups. Physiological, observational, and questionnaire data were obtained pre- and postintervention. Because of the small sample size, effect sizes were examined for illustrative purposes of potential effects of the EC intervention. Relative to mothers in waitlist group, mothers in the intervention group showed (a) improvements in emotion awareness and coaching, (b) increases in ER as assessed by baseline RSA, (c) increased use of validation and decreased use of sermonizing/lecturing/scolding during parent–child interaction, and (d) increased sense of parenting competence. Relative to children of mothers in the waitlist group, children of mothers in the intervention group showed (a) increases in ER as measured by parent-report and baseline RSA, (b) decreases in negativity during parent–child interaction, and (c) decreases in depressive symptoms. Discussion highlights potential usefulness of an EC parenting intervention for populations at risk for ER and parenting difficulties.

Integrating dialectical behavior therapy with child and parent training interventions: A narrative and theoretical review.

“…While Katz et al (2020) emotion coaching intervention was the only intervention we were able to find that specifically integrated components of DBT by name, many parent training interventions have shifted from focusing exclusively on modifying parents’ behavioral responses to children's problematic behaviors, to also incorporating emotion regulation and mindfulness components. While these are key components of DBT, there is a multitude of examples of parenting interventions integrating these components outside of a DBT framework.…”

“…Parents may benefit from cues to be more mindful of their emotions and the benefits on checking in with themselves, before intervening with their child. This approach would focus on emotions while parenting and developing strategies to help reduce ineffective parenting practices related to strong emotions and impulsivity (Katz et al, 2020; Lengua et al, 2018).…”

Trauma-Focused Tuning in to Kids: Evaluation in a Clinical Service

“…The combination of parents developing skills in responding to their children's emotional needs along with parents exploring their own family histories with emotions in the group, appears to have contributed to parents experiencing less stress and greater confidence in parenting. Katz and colleagues [21] also found working with parent emotion awareness and regulation was a vital part of their intervention that occurred prior to mothers learning emotion coaching skills with their children. Further, we have previously found that when parents had more emotional difficulties themselves, greater improvement in child behavior occurred when parents participated in TIK than for those parents who received a behavioral parenting intervention [15].…”

“…Their children also demonstrated significantly better memory and emotion knowledge relative to controls. Katz and colleagues' [21] twelve-week group parenting intervention for survivors of intimate partner violence addressed parent emotion awareness and regulation in early sessions before teaching emotion coaching skills in later sessions. In a pilot study with 50 mothers assigned to intervention or control, those receiving the intervention had improved parent emotion regulation on parent-report and physiological measures of respiratory sinus arrhythmia; improved observed and reported parenting and decreased parent-reported child depressive symptoms and decreased observed child negativity relative to controls who did not show these changes.…”

A Pilot Study of a Parent Emotion Socialization Intervention: Impact on Parent Behavior, Child Self-Regulation, and Adjustment

“…To directly measure child outcomes, studies have used assessment of emotion understanding, typically using Denham's (1986) puppet task, also referred to as the Affective Knowledge Test, the Emotion Skills Task, or the puppet interview (see Denham et al, 2015, for a review). In a study of an emotion coaching intervention on 75 mother-child dyads (child age 6-12) in households that had experienced intimate partner violence, Katz et al (2020) found increased baseline vagal tone in the intervention group children, taken to index increased ability of self-soothing in stressful situations (Porges, 1995). They also found improvement in mothers' emotion regulation abilities, mother and child mental health, parent-child relationship, and mothers' confidence in dealing with child behavior problems.…”