Adapted from the U.S. “Strengthening Families Program” launched in 1982, the Family and Parenting Support Program is designed for parents of children aged 6 to 11. It has been implemented in France for about ten years by the Alpes-Maritimes Departmental Committee (Codes 06) with the support of Santé publique France. In practice, the program relies on the involvement of community facilitators who have undergone prior training in the program (5 days of training), and is based on intervention manuals that use interactive methods: group games, role-playing scenarios, discussions, role-playing exercises, and at-home activities. The program consists of 14 weekly sessions, each lasting 2 hours.

Parenting support: a key focus for promoting children’s well-being

Interventions focused on developing psychosocial skills (PSS) and providing parenting support are among the most effective, according to the scientific literature, for promoting well-being and preventing the onset of psychological disorders. This is why, as part of its mental health program, Santé publique France is forming partnerships with on-the-ground stakeholders (organizations, institutions) to adapt promising interventions to the French context and evaluate them. The data generated is made available to the community and decision-makers to facilitate the implementation of these initiatives.

The Agency is currently supporting two pilot interventions to support parenting, focusing in particular on the development of psychosocial skills: Panjo (Promotion of Health and Attachment for Newborns and Their Young Parents: a tool to strengthen maternal and child health services) and the support program for families and parenting for children aged 6–11.

The objectives of PSFP are to strengthen parenting skills and develop children’s psychosocial skills. PSFP takes the form of structured, medium-term interventions to support and help parents cope with their children’s emotional and behavioral development by strengthening parenting practices and promoting parent-child communication.

Evaluating to Better Implement Effective Health Promotion and Prevention Initiatives

Santé publique France conducted an effectiveness and process evaluation of the PSFP 6-11 program between 2017 and 2019 in approximately twenty cities across France (including two on the island of Réunion). The aim was to measure changes in children’s behaviors and psychosocial skills, changes in parenting practices, parental anxiety/stress and children’s well-being, as well as the amount of time children spent in front of screens.
The results confirmed positive effects on behavioral disorders, hyperactivity, and children’s well-being, as well as on parental engagement and parents’ mental health.

The results of the PSFP 6-11 evaluation, in the French context, enable Santé publique France to commit to supporting its rollout across the country by developing and routinely monitoring indicators of program fidelity and quality at implementation sites.

To date, PSFP has been piloted in 12 French regions. To ensure the program’s quality and its long-term sustainability nationwide, Santé publique France has established a protocol for monitoring its rollout. This monitoring is based on several indicators (number of sessions, host cities, program adherence, family attendance and satisfaction, family profiles, etc.) jointly defined by Santé publique France and CoDES 06, particularly based on the evaluation results. It aims to ensure optimal implementation conditions and to guarantee the quality of the program and its long-term sustainability.

Furthermore, this program will be added to the registry of effective interventions with the notation “Evaluated in the French context,” and will enable funders, such as regional health agencies or other local authorities, to verify the impact of PSFP 6-11.