Increasing the Reach of Evidence-based Help for Parents

Children raised in stressful or unsupportive family environments are more likely to develop emotional and behavioural problems, but with improvements to parenting practices, children’s wellbeing and skills can improve too.  

Australia is home to some of the world’s best evidence-based parenting supports, in the form of information and programmes which are empirically shown to improve parenting and child outcomes. However, Dr Frances Doyle, a clinical child psychologist at Western Sydney University, is finding that these are often not accessible to those who would most benefit from them.  

In a 2022 paper published in the journal Child Psychiatry & Human Development, Doyle and her coworkers highlighted the policy imperative for improved access to evidence-based parenting resources.  

This kind of parenting support, provided by universities, not-for-profit organisations, and private companies, ranges from in-person interventions to websites offering advice. Research indicates use of such supports by parents and caregivers can result in mental health benefits and changed behaviours for children, as well as enhancing their social, emotional, and academic skills.  

Parents can also benefit from improved wellbeing and mental health, setting more realistic, age-appropriate expectations for their kids and for themselves. Furthermore, parenting supports help to prevent child maltreatment and family violence.  

Despite this, only 35% of Australian parents needing help for their children’s emotional and behavioural problems said that their needs had been fully met.  

“What stands out is the mismatch between the potential benefits of parenting supports and what is currently being done to support these resources,” says Professor Daryl Higgins, an expert on preventing child abuse and neglect at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne. “At this stage, we don’t have a national strategy or a government department responsible for parenting support. Different departments are working in silos, so parenting support falls through the cracks.” 

The limited government funding, and limited eligibility for receiving parenting support has resulted in stigma around receiving support. And, often only those parents with considerable child behaviour problems get access. “But the same parenting resources could also help caregivers with more common challenges, such as setting limits for their children, or difficulties getting them to bed at night,” says Doyle.  

Change is on the horizon. In 2022, the federal government invested $40 million in funding to provide the Triple P — ‘Positive Parenting Program’ — a world-leading online resource, that is free to all families across Australia during the funding period. “Recent changes to funding have come about following Australia’s first National Children’s Mental Health Strategy,” says Doyle. “It’s a clear signal for us to embrace the use of evidence-based parenting supports for all families.”