THERAPEUTIC FACTORS, GROUP CLIMATE AND STRESS IN PARENTING IN A CHILD-CENTERED GROUP OF MOTHERS

The study aims at analysing psychological dynamics and therapeutic factors in a child-centered group of mothers and at exploring the impact of group intervention in evaluating the perception of Group Climate, Therapeutic group factors (Yalom, Leszcz, 2009) and levels of stress perceived in parenting. The Italian versions of the Therapeutic Factors Inventory-Short form (TFI-S, Mac Nair-Semands, 2010), the Group Climate Questionnaire (Mc Kenzie, 1981; Costantini, Picardi, Podranky, Lunetta, Ferraresi, Balbi, 2002) and the Parent Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF, Abidin, 1983; Guarino, Di Blasio, D'Alessio, Camisasca, Serantoni, 2008) were submitted before and after a cycle of 10 Child-centered weekly sessions to a group of 21 mothers of children in the age of latency attending a primary school. Data were treated using Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test to examine the differences between Perception of Group Climate, Therapeutic Group Factors and Stress in parenting before and after the child-centered group intervention. Data revealed statistically significant differences between the perception of all the Therapeutic Group Factors before and after the group experience: Secure Emotional Experience (p <.001), Awareness of Relational Impact (p <.05), Social Learning (p<.001) and Instillation of Hope (p<.05). Furthermore significant differences between perception of Group Climate: Engagement (p<.001) and Avoidance (p<.05) were found. Finally, data showed significant differences in the perception of Difficult Child ( p<.001), Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction (p<.05) and Total Stress in parenting (p<.01) before and after the group experience. The study showed statistically significant connections between therapeutic group factors, group climate and stress perceived in parenting by the participants to the group.