‘I Felt Brave’: A Mixed-Methods Study on Participants' Parental Efficacy After Attending a Parent–Child Programme in a Remote Aboriginal Community

Positive parenting and parent–child interaction are keys to children's early life experiences and developmental outcomes. Play to Connect is a short-term parent–child programme, co-developed and delivered in partnership with a remote Aboriginal community on the Tiwi Islands in Australia's Northern Territory. The programme focuses on enhancing the parent–child relationship and parental self-efficacy. This study aimed to explore whether participants' confidence and efficacy in parenting improved after attending the programme and to identify the factors contributing to these outcomes. A mixed-methods design was employed, which included qualitative interviews with 27 participants and quantitative data collected with use of the Parent Empowerment and Efficacy Measure (PEEM). The quantitative results showed that parents gained increased confidence in managing child-rearing challenges after the programme. Qualitative data revealed that a focus on parent–child interaction, learning new knowledge and skills and peer support all contributed to improved parental self-efficacy. These findings are presented with a view to inform social work practice and provide models for delivery of parenting support in remote Aboriginal communities and to encourage further research to amplify the voices and perspectives of Aboriginal parents.