Program Assessment of "Learning to Live Together at Home": A Pilot Study for Parents of Early Childhood Education

Introduction: In recent decades, several studies provide scientific evidence of the benefits of preventive family intervention in early childhood. However, in the Spanish context there is a shortage of proven effective interventions designed for this population. After carrying out a pilot intervention with the universal family program "Aprender a Convivir" en Casa [Learning to Live Together at Home - LLT], with a Spanish population, the objective of this study was to ascertain its effectiveness in developing social competency and in reducing behavioral problems in preschoolers. Method: The sample was composed of 18 parents with children in early childhood education, from ages 3 to 5 years (M[subscript age] = 4.48 years, SD[subscript age] = 0.50), from a school in Granada (Spain). Nine parents belonged to the experimental group and nine to the control group. Sample selection was incidental nonprobabilistic. Children were assigned to the experimental group if their parents had attended more than 80% of the program sessions. Results: The results indicate main effects of the time variable (pre-test and post-test) as well as interaction effects of the variables time x group (control and experimental) in the variables of social cooperation, social interaction and total social competency, with the experimental group obtaining higher scores in the post-test phase. Regarding behavioral problems, the results show main and interaction effects in attention problems and in externalizing behavioral problems. In the remaining variables analyzed, no main effects or interaction effects were found. Discussion and conclusions: Intervention with families is an important protective factor in the prevention of behavioral problems. The results observed after the LLT pilot implementation were promising for the promotion of social competency and the reduction of certain behavioral problems in children from the participating families. However, there are some study limitations that must be taken into consideration.