Pilot Implementation of Psychoeducational Workshops on Behavior Management and Stress Management for Parents and Teachers

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic created compounding stressors for school-aged children, parents, and teachers and underscored the urgent need to widely implement evidence-based programs for promoting youth mental and behavioral health. In two community-engaged studies, we piloted psychoeducational workshops that taught behavior management and stress management strategies to parents and teachers. The research team partnered with a northern California school district to develop and implement these psychoeducational workshops. In study 1, parents (N = 165) participated in a series of workshops on behavior management. Parents perceived the strategies covered in each workshop to be acceptable, appropriate, and feasible and were able to accurately describe behavior management strategies following each workshop. In study 2, teachers (N = 113) participated in workshops on behavior management and stress management. Teachers perceived the strategies covered in each workshop to be acceptable, appropriate, and feasible and were able to accurately describe the strategies following each workshop. Findings suggest that psychoeducational workshops may be a promising avenue for promoting youth mental and behavioral health. Lessons learned from conducting this community-engaged research are discussed, as well as future directions for widely implementing psychoeducational workshops for parents and teachers.

Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge the dedicated principals, teachers, and staff at the Mountain View Whisman School District who supported this research with their time, effort, and enthusiasm. We also wish to thank Sonia Gomez, Claudia Olaciregui, Heidi Galassi, and Michelle Williams (Mountain View Whisman School District), as well as Alejandra Torres Sanchez (Children’s Hospital Los Angeles) for their support of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, AP, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.