Background: The highly test-oriented educational context in Hong Kong has restricted parents to explore the character strengths of their children. This study aims at promoting strength-based parenting (SBP) to Hong Kong Chinese parents by (1) discovering both parents and children character strengths; (2) enhancing parent-child communication through reflection of character strengths; and (3) encouraging parents and children to use character strengths in their daily life.
Methods: Four-session workshops with reflective and interactive activities were designed for parents to discover both parents and children’ character strengths and to use SBP facilitating parent-child communication. A purposive sample of four Chinese parents with school-age children were recruited.
Results: Qualitative data showed that parents learned how to identify, cultivate, and appreciate their own and their children’s character strengths during and after the workshops from observation and their written records. The rating scores on the post-test of strength-based parenting quiz increased.
Conclusion: These findings suggested that SBP can benefit Hong Kong Chinese parents to adopt a new perspective to understand, value and support themselves and their children through cultivating and applying their character strengths. The SBP can also enrich parenting practice and parent-child communication so as to improve the well-being of both parents and children.