Poster Presentation 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

Enhancing Well-Being In Children And Parents Through Flourishing Families Program   (#641)

Mari Laakso 1 2 , Ase Fagerlund 2 , Anu-Katriina Pesonen 1 , Johan Eriksson 1 2
  1. Helsinki University, Helsinki, Finland
  2. Folkhälsan Research Center , Helsinki, Finland

Background: The family is one of the most essential contributors to, and predictors of, children’s well-being. For school-aged children (7-12 years) the most important and influential people are still their parents. In order to increase the well-being of children it is thus important to develop interventions that engage important people in the child’s environment.

Aim: The main aim of the Finnish Flourishing Families program was to enhance parental well-being and, subsequently, the well-being of their children through new research and methods in positive psychology. 

Method: The program consisted of eight-week parental groups (N=73 parents) using a wait-list RCT design. Multiple methods were used in data collection: the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to assess in-the-moment experiences, physiological measures on stress and health (cortisol, heart rate variability), and questionnaires for parents and children. The data was gathered at pre-, post-intervention and 3-month follow-up (questionnaire).

Results: Content, outline and implementation will be presented along with results. Initial results show significant intervention effects on flow when parents engage with their children. Further results will be presented at the conference.

Conclusions: Results will be discussed in the light of the overall question of how to best reach and enhance the well-being of children and parents.