the impact of compassion-focused training on parental self-efficacy in mothers of children with externalizing behaviors

Background: mothers of children with externalizing behaviors often experience low self-efficacy. the present study investigated the effectiveness of compassion-focused training (cft) on parental self-efficacy components in mothers of children with externalizing problems.methods: this study employed a semi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design. the target population comprised mothers of children exhibiting externalizing behaviors residing in isfahan, iran. a convenience sampling technique yielded a sample of 30 mothers who were subsequently randomized into an experimental group (n=15) and a control group (n=15). the experimental group received an eight-week cft intervention delivered in weekly 90-minute sessions. the control group remained on a waitlist during the intervention period. the berkeley parenting self-efficacy scale (bpse-r) served as the primary outcome measure. data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ancova) within spss version 23.results: parental self-efficacy scores in the cft group increased significantly from pre-test (51.87±6.17) to post-test (66.39±7.96), while the control group showed no significant change (pre-test: 51.90±5.26; post-test: 54.23±4.08). in the post-test, the cft group showed significantly higher self-efficacy compared with the control group (p=0.001). moreover, the cft significantly increased maternal self-efficacy in the subscales of responsibility acceptance, self-management, child acceptance, and positive child evaluation compared with the control group (p<0.05).conclusion: the cft intervention demonstrated significant effectiveness in enhancing various aspects of parental self-efficacy among mothers of children with externalizing problems. these findings suggested that cft may be a valuable intervention for empowering mothers to manage the challenges associated with raising children exhibiting externalizing behaviors.