Community-wide change towards positive parenting

The study found that an integrated intervention of parenting programmes and social activation led to significant decreases in children's internalising and externalising behaviours and a reduction in parenting stress. While there was a trend toward decreased spanking, overall positive parenting levels remained stable. Social network analysis revealed that programme participants became more influential, potentially spreading positive parenting practices to non-attendees. However, the impact was undermined by systemic risks including intimate partner violence, poor mental health, and substance abuse, which the authors argue must be addressed through integrated social and government services to optimise outcomes.

• The combined delivery of four evidence-based parenting programmes and a social activation process in Touwsranten resulted in children showing fewer internalising and externalising behaviours, a slight improvement in parental mental health, and a reduction in the use of corporal punishment.
• Caregivers who participated in the parenting programmes increased their social influence and became more central in their networks, actively discussing parenting with other caregivers.
• Longitudinal data indicates that the effectiveness of parenting programmes on children is undermined by risky alcohol use, poor parental mental health, and intimate partner violence.
• There was a significant 5% decrease in parenting stress, although this remained negatively impacted by substance misuse, poor mental health, and intimate partner violence.
• The intervention's social network effect suggests that participants influenced the behaviour of parents who did not attend the programmes, potentially offering a more cost-effective model than standalone training.
• The social activation process, while supporting positive change by amplifying community values, was difficult to sustain because community members were reluctant to take ownership due to a lack of hope for positive change.
• The programmes primarily reached Afrikaans-speaking parents during the research period because isiXhosa-speaking facilitators were initially unavailable, leading to feelings of marginalisation and exclusion among the isiXhosa-speaking community.
• Baseline data showed that 60% of families in the community struggled with poverty, reporting that they ran out of money for food four or more times in a single month.

APA

Gould, C., Ward, C., Dippenaar, W., Kleyn, L., Mufamadi, D., Lake, M., & Parker, W. (2022). Community-wide change towards positive parenting. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/SAR-50.pdf

Chicago

Gould, Chandré, Catherine Ward, Wilmi Dippenaar, Lisa Kleyn, Diketso Mufamadi, Marilyn Lake, and Warren Parker. Community-wide change towards positive parenting. Institute for Security Studies, 2022. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/SAR-50.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gould |first1=Chandré |last2=Ward |first2=Catherine |last3=Dippenaar |first3=Wilmi |last4=Kleyn |first4=Lisa |last5=Mufamadi |first5=Diketso |last6=Lake |first6=Marilyn |last7=Parker |first7=Warren |title=Community-wide change towards positive parenting |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=July 2022 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/SAR-50.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gould2022communitywide, author = {Gould, Chandré and Ward, Catherine and Dippenaar, Wilmi and Kleyn, Lisa and Mufamadi, Diketso and Lake, Marilyn and Parker, Warren}, title = {{Community-wide change towards positive parenting}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2022}, month = jul, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/SAR-50.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }