Strengthening Parenting Among Refugees in Europe (SPARE): A Collaborative Feasibility and Acceptability Study Among Four European Nations

Per the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), record numbers of people have been forcibly displaced in the past decade due to life-threatening conditions. The negative effects of traumatic experiences associated with forced displacement are well known. Strengthening Parenting Among Refugees in Europe (SPARE) is a trauma-informed version of the evidence-based parenting programme Generation Parent Management Training Oregon Model (GenerationPMTO), developed and implemented by GenerationPMTO experts in Europe. SPARE is intended to support refugee parents and their children and facilitate their inclusion in a new community. Using mixed methods, we examined the feasibility, acceptability, and initial pre/post outcomes of SPARE for refugee families with children ages 0–18 in Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark. Parents in all SPARE groups reported high levels of satisfaction with the programme and provided suggestions for its improvement. Parents also reported positive changes in child adjustment, parent psychological distress, and parenting practices following SPARE, with small to moderately sized effects. Differences in parent-rated outcomes across countries were noted. Overall, SPARE appears to be a promising and feasible contribution to the dearth of evidence-based and culturally adapted prevention programmes for refugees in Europe. Further investigations of SPARE and its implementation are needed.