Changes in the level of parental stress and academic achievements after the intervention Samen Leren: A pilot study

Abstract

Samen Leren (SL) is an intervention especially designed for parents from low socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhoods. Parents from low SES often experience more parenting stress and lack parenting skills, while their children are more likely to face academic deficits. SL provides coaching and education to the parents regarding parenting skills. This pilot study explores the effectiveness of SL; after SL it is expected that the parenting skills increases, parental stress decreases, and the children’s academic achievement increases. Three measurement waves were used: (a) before SL starts (pre-test), (b) directly at the end of SL (post-test), and (c) 6 months after SL (follow-up). Two measurement instruments were used: (a) Opvoed Belasting Vragenlijst (OBVL) measuring parental stress and (b) Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III-NL) measuring linguistic development. Initially the CITO was also used as measurement instrument, but the national assessment days of the CITO did not align with the studies measurements waves. Using repeated measures ANOVA and Pearson correlations, no significant changes were found. The small sample size (n = 14) has most likely influenced the result on group level. However, the individual scores exposed first indications of decrease in parental stress after 6 months of SL, but also adverse consequences after SL. SL possibly had no effect on the children’s language development because the individual scores differed extremely. Further research is recommended, with different measurement instruments to measure children’s academic achievements and carefully consider the effect mechanism of SL regarding parenting stress and parenting skills and academic achievements.