The effect of filial therapy on parental acceptance and child adjustment.

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of filial therapy on parental acceptance and child adjustment. It was hypothesized that parents who completed the filial therapy training program would increase their feelings of acceptance for their child, would reduce their level of parenting-related stress, and would report that their children were engaging in fewer problem behaviors. It was also hypothesized that the self-concept of the children involved would improve. The sample of 50 parent-child dyads were identified by the referral source as being "at risk" for developing parent-child attachment problems. The dyads were assigned to either the experimental or control groups and then scheduled to complete the pretest battery which consisted of the Porter Parental Acceptance Scale, the Parenting Stress Index, the Filial Problems Checklist, and the Joseph Pre-School and Primary Self Concept Screening Test. After completing the pretest battery, those in the experimental group were assigned to one of two therapists to begin the filial therapy training process. Four filial therapy training groups each consisted of six to eight parent-child dyads. The training for all four groups occurred over 10 weekly sessions and followed carefully outlined procedures. All control group members were placed on a waiting list during the 10 week treatment period. Upon completion of the treatment period all participants completed the posttest battery according to the same pretest procedures. After the posttests had been completed, the data were analyzed by calculating an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for each of the four dependent variables with pretest scores as the covariate. The results indicate that parents who completed the filial therapy training did significantly increase their feelings of parental acceptance. The trends in the data also indicate that there was a reduction in parenting related stress and the number of problem behaviors the children were experiencing. However, the findings suggest that no statistically significant improvement in child self-concept occurred.