PMTO and mental distress among immigrant mothers
Former investigations have shown that PMTO-interventions have positive effects on the parenting of immigrant mothers and the behaviour of their children. A new article by researchers in the UiB research-group Child Welfare, Equality and Inclusion suggests that PMTO may not be effective in relieving mental distress among immigrant mothers.
Main content
Ragnhild Bjørknes, Marit Larsen and Fungi Gwanzura-Ottemӧller from UiB’s Child Welfare, Equality and Inclusion-group, and John Kjøbli from the Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development report on unexpected findings in a randomized PMTO-intervention among 96 Somali and Pakistani mothers and children in Norway:
- Compared to previous findings of high levels of mental distress among immigrants this study found surprisingly low levels of mental distress among these mothers.
- Furthermore, whilst earlier research has found PMTO to decrease mental distress among majority mothers, this research shows that PMTO did not relieve reported mental distress among the immigrant mothers.
According to Bjørknes et al. this underscores the need for more research on parent training among immigrants.
Read the peer-reviewed article «Exploring mental distress among immigrant mothers participating in parent training» (Bjørknes, Larsen, Gwanzura-Ottemӧller, & Kjøbli, 2015) by following the link on the right hand side.