AUTHOR=Welch Martha G. , Ludwig Robert J. , Hane Amie A. , Austin Judy , Markowitz Elizabeth S. , Jaffe Marc E. , Myers Michael M. 

TITLE=Preschool-based mother-child emotional preparation program improves emotional connection, behavior regulation in the home and classroom: a randomized controlled trial

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

VOLUME=2

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/child-and-adolescent-psychiatry/articles/10.3389/frcha.2023.1232515

DOI=10.3389/frcha.2023.1232515

ISSN=2813-4540

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Based on the theory that increasing emotional connection and reducing emotional stress between mother and child at home will reduce dysregulated behavior in the classroom, we tested a novel family-based school intervention aimed at facilitating mother-child emotional connection. This question has gained great importance following the COVID-19 pandemic, as child mental health has been declared a national emergency.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Subjects were randomized into two groups; one (Control: <italic>n</italic> = 32) receiving the standard curriculum in a large community-based preschool education program, and another (MCEP) receiving the standard curriculum plus the Mother Child Emotional Preparation Program (MCEP: <italic>n</italic> = 30). Two to eight MCEP mother-child pairs participated in eight elective weekly 2-h group sessions over a 16-week period. During the 2-h sessions, the pairs were engaged in face to face calming sessions. At 6 months post-enrollment, we assessed mother-child emotional connection on the Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS). In addition, mothers and teachers completed validated questionnaires and instruments.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>We found that the percentage of MCEP mother-child pairs who became emotionally connected at 6 months was five-fold higher than Control pairs (47.4%, vs. 8.3% <italic>p</italic> = 0.004, effect size = 0.44). Also at six months, MCEP children had fewer behavioral symptoms (<italic>p</italic> = 0.024)) (effect size &gt;0.5); fewer autism symptoms (<italic>p</italic> = 0.048) (effect size = 0.53); fewer emotional symptoms (<italic>p</italic> = 0.01) (effect size &gt;0.76); better personal, social skills (<italic>p</italic> = 0.045) (effect size = 0.51); better executive function (<italic>p</italic> = 0.032) (effect size = 0.59). Importantly, teachers reported MCEP children showed more improved behavior in the classroom, compared to controls.</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>This trial was retrospectively registered in the <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://www.clinicaltrial.gov" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">clinicaltrial.gov</ext-link> registry (NCT02970565) on April 9, 2019.</p></sec>