A new research project at Karolinska Institutet will examine whether digital interventions can help parents manage anger in everyday life and thereby prevent negative consequences for children.
Postdoctoral researcher Livia van Leuven at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology and the Department of Global Public Health has been awarded SEK 6,465,000 from Forte for the project Accessible Parenting Programs for Managing Anger in Parenting: A Randomized Controlled Trial. The project builds on her doctoral thesis on preventive measures against violence towards children and targets parents who often feel they become too angry in their parenting.
The project will evaluate scalable, digital parenting support programmes, with or without emotion regulation strategies, for parents of children from the age of two. The aim is to investigate whether these programmes can reduce difficulties with anger and thereby the risk of harsh parenting strategies, conflict and mental health problems in children. The studies will be conducted as randomised controlled trials in collaboration with social services in several municipalities. The interventions are delivered digitally with support from social services, which may become particularly relevant as the new Social Services Act requires evidence‑based and preventive measures.
"There is a considerable need for accessible, research‑supported tools for families where anger and conflict affect everyday life," says Livia van Leuven .
The project begins in July and will run for four years. It concerns families, social services and decision‑makers, and may contribute new knowledge on parenting support, emotion regulation and digital interventions in an area where few effect studies currently exist.
