Small groups for parents: motives and practical issues boosting attendance

Abstract

Small groups offer families support on parenting, interaction between parents and children, parents' own relationship, children's upbringing and development, parents' self-esteem and the family's immediate community. There is some research on the impact of group activities intended for families, but little is known about the factors that make families seek support. Reports on experiences describing parents' group processes are also scarce, and particularly little is known about fathers' participation. The aim of this study is to describe small group attendance from the perspective of mothers and fathers with small children. Data were collected by 13 videotaped group interviews. Qualitative content analysis of latent content was used as the method of analysis. Altogether 77 parents participated in the study. Participants' motives for group attendance were classified as curious, knowledge seekers, variety seekers, socializers and pleasers. Each group included both fathers and mothers. The practical issues boosting parental attendance were babysitting services, suitable working hours, low costs and convenient meeting times. Since the parental experiences of group attendance were expressed at a very concrete level, they can easily be taken into account in family-oriented small group programmes. The study produces concepts that can be used in identifying the motives of families seeking to attend the groups and issues promoting their decision to attend. Focusing on Finnish parents, research complements previous qualitative studies in Spain and Norway. Further research should be directed at families with fewer resources, dysfunctional families and families discontinuing the group.