A brief universal parenting program for recently settled immigrants in Sweden: a feasibility study

The accumulative migration stressors and challenges of parenting adolescent children in a new cultural context indicate a need for culturally sensitive parenting programs to support parents with immigrant backgrounds. This study evaluated preliminary outcomes, acceptability, and feasibility of a new brief universal 4-session universal parenting program delivered in mother tongue. The aim is to strengthening parenting skills and ultimately resilience among recently settled immigrant families. A convergent mixed methods pre-, post-test study design was applied. Paired t-tests were used to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness based on parental self-report on various aspects of the parent-child relationship, parental strategies, efficacy to support the child’s schooling, sense of belonging to the larger society, as well as hopefulness. Further, session reports from parents and session-reports and semi-structured interviews with group leaders were used to explore the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. The interviews were analysed using content analysis. A total of 53 recently settled parents (7 groups) in Sweden speaking Arabic, Dari, or Somali with at least one teenager aged 12–16 years took part in the program. Parental perceived ability to constitute a safe haven in their relationship to their child (t(282) = 2.0, p = .047) and their perceived societal belonging (t(285) = 4.60, p = < 0.001) increased significantly over time. Most other changes were in expected direction, but did not reach level of significance. Parents found the program being meaningful and were willing to recommend it to other parents. The qualitative results based on interviews with group leaders resulted in one overall theme, Meeting parents where they’re at and building trust, with three subthemes: Components of success; Learning together, and Access. The integration of the quantitative and qualitative results suggested importance of creating circumstances that lead to a ‘brave space’, i.e., where participants can express themselves and learn from each other. The program seems acceptable and feasible for parents and group leaders. Cultural bridges for participation and recruitment, as well as ample time for relation-building seems crucial. These results lend support to conducting a randomized controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness of the intervention. Retrospectively registered at ISRCTN (10645626) on 17th February 2025.