Listening to children: Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art-based research

Abstract

This paper presents data from a unique programme evaluation of the parenting programme titled "Learning together, growing as a family" applied in 14 cities in Spain and targeting families at risk of neglectful behaviour. The programme evaluation is based on the voices of children using the qualitative methodology of art-based research (ABR). Eighty-six children 6-12 years of age were interviewed in groups. The outcomes of the evaluation reveal that children perceive improvements in the parental competencies of their parents and in themselves and that these changes serve as a catalyst for positive family change.

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Listening to children: Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through
art-based research
ArticleinChildren & Society · January 2021
DOI: 10.1111/chso.12439
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Ainoa Mateos
University of Barcelona
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Nuria Fuentes
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HOW TO CITE: Mateos, A, Balsells, MÀ, Fuentes‐Peláez, N, Rodrigo, MJ. Listening to children:
Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research. Child
Soc. 2021; 00: 1– 20. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12439
1
Listening to children: Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art-based
research
Mateos. A.; Balsells, M.A.; Fuentes-Peláez, N.; Rodrigo, M.J.
Abstract
This paper presents data from a unique programme evaluation of the parenting programme titled
“Learning together, growing as a family” applied in 14 cities in Spain and targeting families at
risk of neglectful behaviour. The programme evaluation is based on the voices of children using
the qualitative methodology of art-based research (ABR). Eighty-six children 6-12 years of age
were interviewed in groups. The outcomes of the evaluation reveal that children perceive
improvements in the parental competencies of their parents and in themselves and that these
changes serve as a catalyst for positive family change.
Keywords: childhood, participation, positive parenting, arts-based research, socio-educational
programme

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Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research. Child
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2
1 Introduction
The adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989 (UN General Assembly,
1989) established the children’s right to participate in decision making that affects their lives
(Hart, 1992; Shier, 2001; Van Bijleveld et al., 2013). The international framework has led to a
recognition of the importance of allowing the voices of children to be heard and of their right to
participate in aspects related to their development and wellbeing (Tisdall, 2017). This
recognition poses the challenge of promoting child participation in different areas and designing
techniques that draw on the multiple languages of children (Zubizarreta et al., 2016). Particularly
in the family setting, it is essential that the participation of children and adolescents be fostered
in the socio-educational innovation pursued by research and in professional practices. Despite
this emphasis, when analysing research methods used to evaluate parental education
programmes, the voices of children as key informants in evaluating changes in parental
competencies are rarely considered. To achieve child participation both in socio-educational
interventions at the family level and in research, it is necessary to develop alternative techniques
to guarantee children’s right to participate in the evaluation of programmes aimed at promoting
positive parenting.
2 Background and rationale
2.1 The positive parenting initiative
In recent years, there has been a qualitative change in the conception of parenting in society. This
change has been promoted by recent European policies such as Recommendation 19 of the
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (2006), which defines positive parenting as

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Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research. Child
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3
‘parental behaviour based on the best interests of the child that is nurturing, empowering, non-
violent and provides recognition and guidance which involves setting of boundaries to enable the
full development of the child’ (p. 3).
This approach also reflects an ecological vision of parenthood in viewing parenting as the
activity of raising a child while balancing parental resources and limitations and contextual
resources and limitations. This ecological perspective helps reinterpret cases of negligence by
framing them through the holistic organization of conditions of risk and protection for children
and families. Social and contextual conditions, the personal characteristics of the parents, the
characteristics and needs of children and parental skills in responding to the needs of children are
factors that interact with each other to define child and adolescent wellbeing. According to this
perspective, Lacharité defines an ecological model of negligence as “The significantly deficient
if not in fact non-existent response to needs defined by current scientific knowledge or, in the
absence of such knowledge (or of consensus regarding the meaning of such knowledge), by the
social values of a child’s community as fundamental” (Lacharité, 2017: 19).
The positive parenting initiative has highlighted the influence of children on parenting,
including their right to participate in the family socialization process. This participation means
that children and adolescents, through their competencies and personal and social resources, can
transform their own reality in the family (Martín et al., 2013). The positive parenting approach
proposes a change in the views of the child and socialization in modern societies. In this view,
the child is competent and capable, and the role of parents is to help the child exercise his or her
rights by providing direction and guidance appropriate to the child’s evolving capacities. When
translated into the family setting, values of mutual respect, equal dignity, authenticity, integrity
and responsibility are foundations for developing parent–child relationships that promote

HOW TO CITE: Mateos, A, Balsells, MÀ, Fuentes‐Peláez, N, Rodrigo, MJ. Listening to children:
Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research. Child
Soc. 2021; 00: 1– 20. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12439
4
children’s rights (Daly, 2007). In challenging unidirectional theories of socialization, this modern
view defines socialization as a bidirectional process of mutual adaptation, accommodation and
negotiation performed during complex, bidirectional exchanges between parents and children
(Grolnick et al., 2007; Kerr et al., 2003; Kuczynski and Parkin, 2007).
The modern view that recognizes the active role played by the child in his/her own
process of socialization also emphasizes the definition of a new set of parental competencies:
observing the child’s characteristics and needs and the situational constraints on actions that
allow parents to consider all information to evaluate the child’s behaviour; promoting cognitive
and emotional perspective-taking as the parental ability to make inferences about the child’s
thoughts and emotions; “mentalizing” or attributing mental states to the child to individuate
him/her; being flexible in the application of parental actions according to the child’s
characteristics and needs; using different communication formats to convey parental messages
such as conversational and argumentative formats and not only direct orders; placing parental
practices within a framework of mid- to long-term educational goals instead of using only short-
term goals based on immediate child compliance; and promoting parental reflection on the
consequences of educational practices for child and family outcomes (Azar et al., 1998; Reder et
al., 2003; Rodrigo et al., 2008).
2.2 Parental education programmes
The European positive parenting approach also emphasizes the promotion of parental capacities
in order to move towards a strengthening approach that identifies parents’ existing skills and
strengths and builds on these capacities. Likewise, interventions should be based on empowering
children by promoting their strengths and resources and helping them to communicate their

HOW TO CITE: Mateos, A, Balsells, MÀ, Fuentes‐Peláez, N, Rodrigo, MJ. Listening to children:
Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research. Child
Soc. 2021; 00: 1– 20. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12439
5
feelings and needs. Spain has endorsed this view by carrying out a process of innovation and
inclusion of the positive parenting view in the family and among professionals and services
(Rodrigo et al., 2016).
With regard to parental education programmes, these dynamic and participatory elements
of childhood have been taken into account in the so-called third-generation parental education
programmes (Martín-Quintana et al., 2009). The main objective of these programmes is to
promote the quality of family functioning as a system, going beyond those programmes based
only on unidirectional mother to child influences (first generation) and mother-child
decontextualized interactions (second generations). Third-generation programmes also go
beyond the academic and technical model of parental education to reach a more experiential
model where the reflection of the parents is sought to build episodic knowledge in a daily
scenario. Research shows that these evidence-based programmes are effective in realizing
changes in parental competencies and especially in those competencies that facilitate adjustments
to individual children. The term “evidence-based programmes” refers to a specific subset of
programmes that are theoretically based with their contents fully described and structured in a
manual, their effectiveness evaluated according to standards of evidence and the factors that
influence the implementation process identified and taken into account to explore variations in
programme results (Rodrigo, 2016).
The analysis of studies evaluating the efficacy and effectiveness of the Spanish evidence-
based programmes demonstrates how fathers and mothers improve their capacities to incorporate
their children as active agents. Some findings include the following: a) mothers and fathers
participating in the group modality of the “Growing up happy in the family (Crecer felices en
familia)” programme showed positive changes in parental attitudes (expectations with regard to

HOW TO CITE: Mateos, A, Balsells, MÀ, Fuentes‐Peláez, N, Rodrigo, MJ. Listening to children:
Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research. Child
Soc. 2021; 00: 1– 20. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12439
6
the development of their children, empathy for their needs, negative attitudes towards physical
punishment and adaptation to their role) and in parental satisfaction and a decline in parental
distress (Álvarez et al., 2015); b) educational supervision and parental control improved
significantly in single-parent families participating in the “Living childhood as a family (Vivir la
adolescencia en familia)” programme (Rodríguez et al., 2015); and c) significant changes
occurred in the mothers and fathers participating in the “Family support and training programme
(Programa de formación y apoyo familiar, FAF)” in terms of the management of affect in family
relationships, perceptions of parental roles and family functioning (Hidalgo et al., 2015).
As mentioned above, the third-generation parental education programmes show positive
results in terms of learning and changes in parental competencies; however, not all of them
involve the participation of children in both programme intervention and evaluation. The
“Learning together, growing as a family (Aprender juntos, crecer en familia)” programme
(Amorós et al., 2011) is one of the few that involves direct intervention not only with fathers and
mothers but also with children. The programme is aimed at families with children 6-12 years old.
The main objective of the programme is to promote development and family coexistence by
fostering positive relationships between parents and children in accordance with the exercise of
positive parenting (Amorós et al., 2013). The programme is aimed at families in situations of
psychosocial risk to prevent situations of child abuse or neglect. The typical profile of
psychosocial risk includes
low-income parents who have poor models of parenting, lack personal empowerment, have
inadequate life management skills, show inconsistent parenting, are punitive in managing
children’s behavior or provide inadequate supervision of children and low attention to the child’s
needs. The level of risk was measured with the instrument Family psychosocial risk profile

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Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research. Child
Soc. 2021; 00: 1– 20. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12439
7
(Rodríguez et al. 2006) as the main inclusion criteria for participation in the programme. Social
services professionals and community social entities are responsible for recruiting families. The
programme is based on evidence and subject to complex and rigorous evaluation and has been
shown to be effective and efficient in improving parental competencies and the quality of family
interactions in families at social risk and high psychosocial risk (Amorós et al., 2016).
The quantitative results of seven annual editions of the “Learning together, growing as a
family” programme (since 2011-12) show significant changes in families: the proportion of
families using an authoritarian educational style is diminished; the use of criticism and rejection
decreases; affectivity and communication styles improve; and satisfaction with family life
increases (Amorós et al., 2015). The format of the programme, though which children participate
in both individual sessions and in joint family sessions, gives rise to very rich processes of
change (at both the individual and family levels) that children perceive at the end of the
programme and that require the development of an appropriate data collection technique to
measure. The programme consists of a total of 16 sessions, with a weekly frequency and duration
of each session of 2 h (1 h for parents and children separately and a 1 h family session). Hence,
the art-based research (ABR) technique was used in evaluating the programme.
2.3 Art-based research (ABR)
The use of methodologies to evaluate programmes that consider the perceptions of children and
listen to their voices is required in this field of research due to the innovative nature of the
approach and the difficulties involved. In the case of the “Learning together, growing as a
family” programme, in different evaluations of the programme (from 2011 to 2015), discussion
groups with parents and children were conducted as part of the evaluation. However, the

HOW TO CITE: Mateos, A, Balsells, MÀ, Fuentes‐Peláez, N, Rodrigo, MJ. Listening to children:
Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research. Child
Soc. 2021; 00: 1– 20. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12439
8
application of this technique with children revealed certain limitations: children, especially the
youngest, showed difficulties speaking and tended to provide simple, stereotyped and mimetic
responses. According to Haudrup (2006), who emphasizes the importance of research practices
such as reflexivity and dialogue, ABR was introduced in 2016 in order to elicit the voices of
children in the representation of their own lives.
ABR is “a trans disciplinary approach to knowledge building that combines the tenets of
the creative arts in research contexts” (Leavy, 2017:3) and includes all artistic approaches to
research, e.g., drawing. Research shows that drawing can be used as an alternative technique in
contemporary research with children, as it allows them to communicate experiences, feelings and
thoughts that might otherwise remain unexpressed or ignored (Mitchell et al., 2011). Drawing
allows children to express emotional states and personal experiences that are difficult to express
in words. The art of drawing allows children to communicate their experiences on their own
terms, encouraging them to participate through drawing and discussion groups (or group
interviews) and offering them the opportunity to speak if they wish. The approach involves
exploiting metaphorical speech and its communicative potential (Weber and Mitchell, 1996).
For these reasons, the ABR methodology is especially relevant to investigations aimed at
directly capturing children’s voices, encouraging them to describe the experiences of their daily
lives through anecdotal dialogue (Ehrlén, 2009; Mauthner, 1997). Drawing is becoming an
increasingly popular medium in research with children (and adults), as the activity encourages
participants to freely communicate their “felt experiences” of events, processes or spaces with
relatively little intervention on the part of the researcher (Lavoie and Joncas, 2015; Leitch et al.,
2007). This technique is used, above all, in studies related to the school environment, such as
ABR studies in which children are asked about their experiences in preschool and early

HOW TO CITE: Mateos, A, Balsells, MÀ, Fuentes‐Peláez, N, Rodrigo, MJ. Listening to children:
Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research. Child
Soc. 2021; 00: 1– 20. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12439
9
elementary school (Dockett and Perry, 2004, 2005a, 2005b), their academic learning (Leitch et
al., 2007), healthy eating in schools (Mauthner et al., 1993), etc. However, with regard to its
application to parental competency programme evaluation and neglect studies, this methodology
is in its early stages. In the field of socio-educational action and in other social settings, the
technique can help contextualize social conditions and empower research participants (Foster et
al., 2018), especially children.
The objective of this article is to capture children’s perspectives on the effectiveness of
the studied programme through ABR. ABR is an innovative approach to evaluation exploring
children’s perceptions of changes resulting from the programme both in their parents and in
themselves.
3 Methodology
3.1 Design of the investigation
To analyse children’s perceptions of changes in their parents and themselves through
participating in the “Learning together, growing as a family” programme, we employed a
qualitative methodological design based on ABR. Weber and Mitchell (1996) suggest that the
ways in which images create meaning is a dynamic process that involves “dialectical
negotiation” or an interaction between the person who draws and the social context in which they
find themselves at a given moment. Consequently, it is necessary to clarify the meanings that
children assign to images while preventing the adult from engaging in false interpretations,
distortions and projections. It is necessary to highlight the advantages of ABR with regard to

HOW TO CITE: Mateos, A, Balsells, MÀ, Fuentes‐Peláez, N, Rodrigo, MJ. Listening to children:
Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research. Child
Soc. 2021; 00: 1– 20. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12439
10
programme evaluation. This technique helps overcome the limitations stemming from children’s
limited linguistic abilities and favours memory.
3.2 Participants
The research participants were selected from an intentional sample of children taking part in the
“Learning together, growing as family” programme in 2016 and 2017 in Spain. In total, 3,827
children participated in the programme over the two years. The children were 8.92 years of age
on average, and 53.2% were boys, while 46.8% were girls. The programme was carried out in
Madrid, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Lleida, Tarragona, Gijón, Bilbao, Las Palmas, Santa Cruz de
Tenerife, Murcia, Málaga, Córdoba, Palma de Mallorca, Valencia and Sevilla, which are cities
that belong to the Caixa Proinfancia network. These cities were chosen due to their populations
of more than 200,000 inhabitants and high poverty and social exclusion rates.
The study participants included 86 children, with an average age of 9.6 years and an
equitable gender distribution of 51% boys and 49% girls. In terms of socio-demographic profiles,
the families mainly included mothers (80.6%) with an average age of 37.3 years and 2.4
dependent children, with a two-parent family situation observed in 62.9% of cases. The number
of participating children was determined by the following selection criteria: children between 6
and 12 years of age with parents seeking to improve their parenting skills. The families are
characterized by low levels of education and high levels of unemployment (especially in the case
of mothers), resulting in many of them being identified as low-income families. The sample
includes a considerable proportion of immigrant families (38.7%) with a wide distribution in
terms of geographical countries of origin. The target population is families at psychosocial risk,
which in Spain are highly represented among immigrant families, as reflected in the high

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Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research. Child
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11
percentage of immigrant families in the sample. Parental negligence is associated with family
members with serious illnesses in 34.8% of cases, lack of family support networks in 32.6% of
cases and lack of social support networks (e.g., friends, neighbours and so on) in 32.6% of cases.
In total, 69% of parents participating in the programme were assessed as having families at high
psychosocial risk, thus forming a group at risk for neglect and abuse.
3.3 Information collection technique
The information collection technique was a semi-structured group interview using the following
script:
1. In the first part of the interview, the children were asked to create a first drawing based
on the following question: From all you have learned in this course (or from the lessons
that you attended), could you draw what you liked the most?
2. In the second part of the interview, the children were asked again, following the same
procedure as in the first part, to make a drawing based on the following statements: Of all
the changes that happened in yourself and/or your home, could you draw the most
important change or the one you liked the most? If you had to explain to your friend what
has changed in your house since you came to this group, what would you draw?
3.4 Procedure
Eighteen semi-structured group interviews were conducted during the months of June and July
2016 and 2017. Between 3 and 5 children participated in each group interview following the
recommendations of authors such as Leitch and Mitchell (2007). The selection criteria of the
participating children were a sufficient level of verbal expression to express their opinion

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Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research. Child
Soc. 2021; 00: 1– 20. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12439
12
(recommended for children over 8 years old), motivation to participate and informed consent
signed by the parents to participate in the study.
The group interviews lasted an average of 50 minutes. External researchers trained in the ABR
methodology used the children’s drawings for data collection. These researchers were unaware
of the effects of previous trials/editions of the programme. After the drawings were completed,
the children were asked to show and to describe them to the group. The group interview was
audio recorded for subsequent transcription and content analysis. In addition, the creative
productions of the children were collected to illustrate the results.
3.5 Content analysis
Content analysis was fundamental to analysing the transcriptions of the group interviews with
the children as a way to obtain guidelines or interpretation rules through the systematic treatment
of the information. This analysis aimed to make valid and well-founded inferences (Gibbs,
2012). To implement content analysis, the Atlas Ti 6.2 computer programme was used. This
programme is useful for performing analyses when large volumes of qualitative data are
involved.
Reviewing the scientific literature allowed some codes to be elaborated prior to the
analysis of the textual information following a “bottom-up” approach in the textual analysis
process. The first phase of analysis was textual; that is, paragraphs, fragments and key quotes
were selected within the transcription documents of the discussion groups. The second,
conceptual phase involved a higher level of analysis, where codes or categories were created that
would subsequently relate to each other. These two phases were continuously examined together
in the analysis process. This approach allowed us to modify the degree of importance given at

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Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research. Child
Soc. 2021; 00: 1– 20. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12439
13
any moment of the analysis process to a quote or paragraph and to deepen the level of
conceptualization. Table 1 shows the dimensions and categories of analysis with definitions and
illustrative examples.
Dimension Category Definition Illustration of textual
quote
Perception
of change
in the
children
Behaviour in
the social
setting
Changes and improvements
perceived by children
regarding their social
relationships
‘I have learned that it is very
important to get along with
other children and be able to
play with them’. Child’s
interview, Bilbao.
Behaviour in
the family
setting
Changes and improvements
perceived by children
regarding family
relationships
‘I drew how to convince
parents with arguments, in
terms of things we wanted
to do, and it worked for me’.
Child’s interview, Santiago.
Perception
of change
in parents
Parental
competencies Changes and improvements
perceived by children with
respect to the abilities of
their parents in the parental
exercise
‘They have learned the same
thing as us, that we have to
be closer, communicate, go
out together and be more
united’. Interview with girl,
Valencia.
Perception of
the parental
role
Changes and improvements
perceived by children with
respect to the role of their
parents in exercising their
parental competencies
‘I’ve drawn myself with my
mother, telling her what I’ve
done in school because
before she did not ask as
much as now. I have noticed
a change in my mother, who
now cares more and asks me
more’. Child’s interview,
Bilbao.
Satisfaction
with the
parental role
Changes and improvements
perceived by children
regarding how their parents
live, experience or feel
about their task of being
parents and how they carry
out this task
‘In this drawing, there is a
child who is in bed, and his
father is telling him a story
(...). Your parents show you
that you are important to
them. They are very happy’.

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14
Interview with girl,
Barcelona.
Table 1. Dimensions and categories of analysis
3.6 Reliability and validity of data
To guarantee the internal and external validity of the content analysis of the group interviews, the
following actions were carried out:
 Consistency check: the description of the categories, the construction of the codes as well
as the first exploratory content analysis (finding the text that belonged to the designed
categories) were carried out by two researchers, separately and independently, for later
verification of the degree of agreement.
 Credibility controls (validation of the codes by experts): once the categories and codes of
analysis were designed, the researchers who carried out this process presented their
proposal to two external persons for validation of the codes by judges, taking into
account the theoretical framework on positive parenting (bottom-up analysis process).
 External validity check: this process was related to the sample selection method being
random with respect to the selection of families from the different participating cities but
intentional with respect to children participating in the evaluation, establishing selection
criteria for the children of the selected families to guarantee that they could participate
(children over 6 years of age who were able to express themselves verbally and motivated
to participate in the evaluative study).
3.7 Ethical considerations in the research

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Finally, it is especially important to highlight the ethical commitment of the present study. All
participants in the evaluative research were duly informed of the study process. Informed written
consent was obtained from the parents, who agreed to the interviews being audio recorded and to
the collection of their children’s drawings. An oral version of informed consent was also
obtained from the children, who also agreed to the interviews being audio recording and to the
collection and reproduction of their drawings. A protocol was put in place in the investigation to
ensure the confidential treatment and anonymity of the information obtained. The Ethics
Committee of the University of La Laguna approved of the study’s protocol.
4 Results
The results are presented according to two main dimensions of analysis: 1) perceptions of
changes in the children (social and family behaviour); and 2) perceptions of changes in the
parents (parental competencies, perceptions of parental roles and satisfaction with parental
roles).
4.1 Perception of change in children
4.1.1 Behaviour in the social setting
The results obtained from the boys’ and girls’ reports suggest that their active participation in
certain areas was related to perceived changes in family and social relationships. Specifically,
changes were observed in their relationships with other family members, classmates and children
who participated in the programme. The children also described having acquired capacities to

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16
contribute to healthy mutual relationships both in the family context and in their peer
relationships at school and during programme development.
‘I have learned education and behaviour and that I have to respect my parents’.
EN, GIJ01
Figure 1. Children’s social behaviour. EN. MAL01

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‘I have learned that it is very important to get along with other children and be
able to play with them. If you play, you have more friends, and I have learned not
to fight’. EN, BIL01
‘I have changed in not disliking anyone and not being pushy. Before, I never shut
up and despised people, telling them bad things’. EN, PGCO1
4.1.2 Behaviour in the family setting
In the family environment, children perceived changes at three levels. First, the children
identified an improvement in their active participation in relationships and family dynamics
(some even highlighted improvements in their relationships with their siblings). In addition, there
were changes in developing habits and routines, typical of a structured environment, favouring a
progressive autonomy. Finally, the children developed habits associated with daily family life
such as organizing their room or respecting the rules for computer use.
‘I have learned not to hit my sister and to help her with her homework’. EN,
SEV01
‘I drew how to convince my parents with arguments, in terms of things we wanted
to do, and it worked for me’. EN, SAN01
‘I have drawn myself in my room because before, I didn’t clean it, and now I do. I
have it neat, and the bed is made. Now my parents don’t have to repeat
themselves so much because I do it without being told’. EN, MAL02

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Figure 2. Children’s behaviour in the family setting (housework). EN, MAL02
‘In the drawing, I’m turning off the computer because before, I played on it for 1
or 2 hours, and now I only play for 30 minutes. In the course, I learned to respect
my schedules’. EN, MAD01

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Figure 3. Children’s behaviour in the family setting (respect for schedules). EN, BCN01
4.2 Perception of change in parents
4.2.1 Parental competencies
Regarding parental competencies, children identified changes and improvements in how their
parents developed their parental responsibilities, especially those related to affection,
communication and participation and family leisure. The children identified improvements in
affectivity as a result of their parents paying more attention to them and demonstrating affection

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and love on a daily basis. The results indicate a special sensitivity towards the demonstration of
affection.
‘My parents now give me much more love’. EN, MAL03
[
Figure 4. Parental competencies (affection). EN, MAL03

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21
The children perceived important changes linked to the communication abilities of the parents.
They recognized that their parents had improved in their abilities to listen to them to take their
opinions into account:
‘I made some blue and green spots, which are cold colours, and then yellow and
red that are warmer, to express the change in the home environment, from more
serious to getting along better and communicating better’. EN, VIG01
Figure 5. Parental competencies (communication). EN, VIG01
It is important to emphasize that the children perceived a greater degree of participation
in day-to-day family decisions, as their opinion was taken into account more often.
‘Sometimes, my mother and I do not have the same opinion, and my mother does
what she wants. Now, sometimes, we do what she says and sometimes what I say.
My mother has learned to listen to me, and I have learned to tell her my opinion’.
EN, BIL02

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Learning and changes related to family leisure show that children perceived an
improvement in the ability to enjoy shared family leisure time. This awareness of the benefits of
sharing leisure time with the family translated into more leisure time, sharing, communication of
experiences, etc.
‘I have drawn my family playing a family game. My father is there, my mother, my
brother and me. We all went to the workshop. What we have learned the most is to
spend more time together and play more together’. EN, MAL04
‘I like being with my parents because now we play more’. EN, VAL01
Figure 6. Parental competencies (shared leisure time). EN, MAL04
4.2.2 Perception of the parental role

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Children perceived changes in the exercising of parental roles. First, they perceived positively
the parents’ greater predisposition to give them support and help in a more positive, proactive
and unconditional way.
‘You always have to work hard for homework. I like it that my father helps me
because this way he explains things that I don’t understand. They have learned to
help me’. EN, GIJ02
Another remarkable result observed concerns changes linked to children’s participation in
the family and in the recognition of children as active agents. There was a greater awareness of
the influence of children in all the settings. In this sense, children appreciated how this
participation implied responsibility in both domestic and day-to-day issues. Similarly, they ended
up being more aware of their active role in the family environment and in the household
dynamics.

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Figure 7. Perceptions of parenting tasks. EN, MAL05
‘I have made a drawing helping my mother with housework at home. Now I dust,
broom and mop, and my mother is calmer and spends more time with us’. EN,
BIL03
‘I have learned to help my mother with many things. In the drawing, I’m
sweeping. My mother is dusting. I have always liked to learn to help at home with
my family’. EN, MAD02
Some older children were able to reflect on their direct participation in family dynamics
and on how changes in family dynamics were related to their parents but also to their own active
role.
‘They have learned the same things as us, that we have to be closer together,
communicate, go out together and be more united’. EN, VAL02
4.2.3 Parental role satisfaction
Likewise, the fact that the parents achieved greater satisfaction in exercising their parental roles
was perceived and valued by the children as pivotal to the development of more positive
relationships.
‘What I liked the most about my parents is that we can live together better, and
they have learned to treat us better and with more respect. The most important
thing we learned is a single word: respect’. EN, MAD03
‘We spend more time with my mom, my cousins and my aunt. Now we spend more
time together’. EN, MAD04

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Figure 8. Parental role satisfaction. EN, GIJ03
5 Discussion
The findings of this study highlight the perceived changes and improvements that children
identified in themselves and in their parents through participating in the “Learning Together,
Growing as a Family” parental education programme. The self-perceived changes observed
suggest that the children were able to develop prosocial behaviours in different social contexts
and in family settings. In the latter case, the results indicate that the children became more active
agents of the improvements observed in parenting tasks. These findings support critiques of
views of the triumvirate of “good” parenting behaviours including parental nurturance, consistent
discipline and an appropriate balance of control/autonomy without taking into account the

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influence of children on these parental strategies (Rodrigo, 2010). This aspect is especially
relevant in the case of child neglect because the self-assessment and self-recognition of its
influence on surrounding environments is a protective factor that helps youth to cope with and
perform better in life as they develop into adults despite their vulnerabilities and the
unfavourable conditions of their contexts (Thomas et al., 2005).
Children’s perceptions of changes in their parents and their abilities to recognize their
own influence on family changes are crucial to revealing child’s agency in reading and
interpreting parental messages (Grusec and Goodnow, 1994). In turn, such changes point to a
need to promote parents’ personal development in delivering understandable messages, as both
parents and children recognize them (De Mol and Buysse, 2008). The results from this line of
research may help to delineate the task of parenting in modern societies (Daly, 2007). Enabling
the establishment of secure bonding for the child and providing structure and guidance for the
learning of parental norms are two primary aspects of the parenting task that have already been
proposed in previous theories of socialization. From his or her parents, the child needs warmth,
acceptance, sensitivity, responsiveness, positive involvement and support. The child also needs
boundaries and guidance for his or her physical and psychological security and the development
of his or her own values and sense of personal and social responsibility. This conception supports
results showing that when children perceive more demonstrations of affection from their parents,
they feel greater empathy for their parents’ views, which facilitates a more positive family
environment. Observed improvements in these elements demonstrate the preventative effects that
they may have on negligence. Indicators of deficiencies in communication, expression and
affective regulation are associated with consequences of negligence directly attributable to
parental figures (Lacharité et al., 2006) and to difficulties with interaction and emotional support

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(Wilson et al., 2008). These findings reaffirm children’s capacities to assess mechanisms and
manifestations of negligence (Lacharité et al., 2006) based on the psychological capacity of their
parents to cater to their educational needs and based on mechanisms related to difficulties
experienced in parent-child relationships.
The methodologies of third-generation parental education programmes, which aim to
bring about changes in parents and their children, serve as a catalyst of the changes observed.
When children participate in evaluation, they feel that they are an active part of the process of
change by and for their families. This perception promotes increased feedback regarding changes
and improvements among family members for the good of the whole family. The methodology
of such programmes strengthens the importance of children in all spheres, and in this sense,
children appreciate how this participation in evaluation involves their responsibility in domestic,
day-to-day issues in the same way that they become more aware of their active role in the family
environment and in the organization of family life. The work by Sinclair (2006) shows that if
participation is to be more meaningful to children and effective in influencing change, it is
necessary to move beyond one‐off or isolated participation and consider how participation
becomes embedded as an integral part of our relationship with children.
Moreover, increased social support for parenting tasks acquired through the programme
serves as a protective factor against negligence, as current studies show the importance of
contextual factors. The ecosystemic view of negligence (Bérubé et al., 2017) leads us to critically
consider economic, cultural, social and personal difficulties as ecological conditions that limit
parents’ capacities to appropriately respond to the needs of their children.
The ABR methodology is found to be an inclusive tool because it involves children by
paying attention to their voices during both intervention and programme evaluations. The

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28
advantage of this technique is that any child, of any age, knows how to draw. However, its
correct application requires the inclusion of certain criteria for the selection of participants, such
as their ability to express themselves verbally and a certain maturity and degree of reflection. As
Weber and Mitchell (1996) point out, drawing is a form of text that the child explains and
interprets without the adult’s mediation. The methodology highlights experiences and
relationships largely hidden by traditional ways of collecting data that had previously been used
to evaluate “Learning together, growing as a family”. In line with Hernández (2008), the act of
drawing serves as a foundation for the narrative of investigation to the extent that it is not the end
result of data collection but rather serves as a starting point from which children can engage in
more in-depth discussions about a given topic.
Three limitations of this study are identified. First, while in our quantitative evaluation of
the programme, the use of a pre-post design was considered, this was not the case for our
qualitative ABR approach. Future research should capture differences between drawings and
comments obtained before and after children participate in the programme. With respect to these
differences, it would be interesting to expand the questions that guide the evaluation and find out
more about those elements that have not yet changed but that children would like to see changed.
In this sense, it would also be relevant to deepen the differences that occur by age or level of
developmental status of the child. Second, as sentences included in the children’s drawings were
not always legible, this content was taken into account but not related to a specific drawing.
Finally, our non-disaggregation of data by gender, age and origin in our group interviews is a
limitation that could be addressed in future studies. These limitations should lead to a revision of
our interview process with children to address such shortcomings in future evaluations.

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6 Conclusion
The positive parenting approach has highlighted the importance and influence of children and
adolescents in the processes of family development. Through this study, it has become clear that
children’s perceptions of their own learning improvements and their interpretations of changes in
parenting roles serve as very valuable source of evidence for family interventions, for the
evaluation of programmes and for better understanding the dynamics of families at psychosocial
risk. The use of the ABR methodology made it possible to identify these perceptions and
revealed a new perspective on work and research conducted in social settings and especially for
the evaluation of programmes that promote positive parenting to prevent child neglect.
Participatory approaches that take into account children’s voices and reflections through ABR
represent a challenge for professional practice and for current research in the field of negligence.
Funding
The author(s) disclose receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or
publication of this article. The research was supported by Obra Social La Caixa, project number
FBG 309221 and FBG 308688.
It has also been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the
European Regional Development Fund under Grant PSI2015-69971-R to M.J.R. Translation
financed by the Aids to the research groups of 2018 from the Faculty of Education of the University
of Barcelona (UB) and the SGR Aid (2017SGR0905).
Declaration of conflicting interests

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The author(s) declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship
and/or publication of this article.

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