Promoting positive parenting: a group social work intervention in a workplace setting

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on promoting positive parenting through a group social work intervention that took place in a professional environment (workplace setting) in a Greek Public Agency located in Athens. The intervention was addressed to a group of nine parents, all working in the same professional environment. The aim was to reinforce the parental role’s perspective and practice in order to establish better family communication, and change or at least influence the parents’ problem-focused mentality. Social work interventions focus on the individual’s strengths and abilities rather than on traditional problem-solving models that focus on the problem. The method applied was group social work within the theoretical framework of the strengths-based model. Α qualitative research methodology was used for evaluating the intervention. According to the findings, parents had the chance to identify and acknowledge non-functional patterns of communication with their children and to discover alternative, more positive ways of responding to children’s occurring problems. Thus, felt reinforced concerning their role in the family.

KEYWORDS:

• Social work
• communication
• positive parenting
• strength’s based model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Irene Katsama

Irene Katsama is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work, School of Social, Political and Economic Studies at the Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), Greece. She holds a PhD in School Social Work from the Department of Social Administration and Political Science of DUTH. She has considerable professional experience as a social worker in Greek governmental and non-governmental organizations. Her research interests are in the areas of school social work, child protection, bullying among school-age children, multiculturism, and mental health promotion and wellbeing, and she has been responsible for the planning, implementation and evaluation of holistic school-based prevention programs. She has written a number of articles for journals and chapters in books based on her research interests.