Effects of CALM and SPACE Parent Training Programs on Rumination and Anxiety in Mothers With Bully Sons

About one-third of children are involved in bullying in primary school. Parenting style, as family background, plays an essential role in bullying. This study aimed to compare the effects of the parent training programs of Coaching Approach Behavior and Leading by Modeling (CALM) and Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) on rumination and anxiety in mothers with a bully son.

This was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test and a control group design. The setting was the primary schools for boys in district 4 of Tehran City, Iran, in 2020. The statistical population of the research included the mothers of bully sons in one of these schools, i.e., selected using a voluntary convenience sampling technique. In total, 60 mothers whose sons scored higher on the Illinois Bullying Scale (IBS) were selected as the subjects and randomly assigned into 3 groups of 20 individuals (2 intervention groups & 1 control group). The necessary data were collected by the IBS, the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), and the Self-Anxiety Scale. The intervention group subjects attended CALM or SPACE training programs for 13 two-hour weekly sessions. A three-month follow-up was also performed. The collected data were analyzed using repeated-measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in SPSS v. 22.

The present study findings suggested a significant difference between the intervention and control groups in rumination (P=0.0001, F=47.54) and anxiety (P=0.0001, F=86.34) in the post-test phase. However, no significant difference was found between CALM (42.80±2.71) and SPACE (42.16±2.71) programs respecting the effects on rumination (P=0.36). In contrast, SPACE (44±2.71) and CALM (39.46±2.71) programs indicated significant differences concerning their impact on anxiety (P<0.032); the CALM program presented a greater impact on reducing anxiety than SPACE. The follow-up results indicated that the CALM program presented a greater retention effect than SPACE on decreasing anxiety in the studied mothers (42.76±1.02, P=0.0001).

The obtained data revealed that the CALM and SPACE programs were effective in reducing maternal rumination and anxiety. However, CALM was more effective than SPACE in reducing maternal anxiety. School counselors, mental health professionals, psychiatric nurses, and school health nurses are suggested to apply the study findings.