MINDFUL PARENTING AMONG PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH ATYPICAL DEVELOPMENT: A META-REVIEW

Abstract

Studies have suggested that parents of children with atypical development experiencing high stress in parenting, which could compromise both the parents’ and children’s well-being. A growing number of research shows the positive effects of mindful parenting for this group of population. This review aims to discuss the studies on mindful parenting intervention for parents of children with atypical development from the aspects of (1) the types of mindful parenting used, (2) the methodologies applied in the studies, and (3) the results of intervention. Six review studies were discovered from a systematic literature search, and 35 studies were extracted from the reviews. Among the types of modalities used in the intervention are mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness self-compassion (MSC). All studies used experiments, ranging from one group with no comparison, to two or more groups with comparisons. Most of the studies were conducted in the USA, Netherland and Hong Kong. Generally, all studies reported positive effects of mindful parenting, especially in reducing parenting stress. It is noted too that only one study reported the integration of spirituality and religiosity (RS) aspect with the intervention. This is not in line with evidence pointing towards the importance of RS as contributing factors to one’s health and well-being holistically. Therefore, it is suggested more studies need to be conducted to integrate RS and mindful parenting in the future. This may assist in improving both the parents and children with atypical well-being and mental health.