Parenting Program for Families in Contexts of Social Vulnerability Within the Spanish Red Cross

ABSTRACT Objective The main aim of the present study was to test the impact of the Parenting Team Program (PTP), an intervention for families in contexts of social vulnerability with children aged 0–6 years, carried out in the regional offices of the Spanish Red Cross. Background The program aims to promote parents' ability to enhance their children's psychological development. Method A quasi‐experimental non‐randomized design was used to test a seven‐week intervention, including pre‐test and post‐test measures of quality of family context and children's development and post‐test measures conducted 3 months after the last intervention session. The sample comprised 53 families (36 in the experimental group and 17 in the comparison group). Results Statistically significant differences were found in the experimental group, although not in the comparison group, for all areas of family context and child development assessed. Conclusions Families who attended the intervention sessions developed better parenting skills in the different areas focused on, and improvements were also observed in child development outcomes 3 months after the intervention. Implications Parenting skills such as self‐efficacy, adaptive stress management and co‐responsibility were identified as priority targets for the development of family policies, along with the cross‐cutting promotion of self‐regulation.