The Effect of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Co-Parenting Education Intervention: An Analysis of Co-Parenting Self-Efficacy, Self-Regulation, and Psychological Flexibility Amongst High Conflict Co-Parents

Abstract

Establishing a cooperative co-parenting relationship following parental divorce or separation is critical for children's and parents' well-being. While most parents can achieve this without excessive hostility or litigious action, this is not true for all. Amidst negotiation of child custody and other co-parenting matters, there is potential for bitter interpersonal discord to be incited between parents. The result of this can be devastating and precipitate high conflict in co-parenting. The ongoing hostility among high conflict co-parents has been associated with substantial negative implications and may produce vulnerability to critical interpersonal processes such as co-parenting self-efficacy, self-regulation, and psychological flexibility.In an attempt to mitigate, co-parenting education interventions have become increasingly popular. While the exploration of high conflict co-parenting interventions is a developing area of study, extant interventions have been slighted for lack of theoretical implementation and lack of core content attending to the interpersonal needs of co-parents. In response, interventions grounded within an evidence-based theory, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), may address these limitations. Indeed, ACT has the potential to fill theoretical and curricular gaps while supporting the educational and interpersonal needs of high conflict co-parents. This study examined the effect of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy co-parenting education intervention on co-parenting self-efficacy, self-regulation, and psychological flexibility amongst a group of high conflict co-parents. Pre- and post-assessment data were collected from intervention participants to investigate the research variables using the Co-Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale- Short Form, and the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II. Paired samples t-tests were used to analyze the three research questions: (1) Will there be a significant change in high conflict co-parents’ psychological flexibility pre- and post-participation in an ACT co-parenting education intervention? (2) Will there be a significant change in high conflict co-parents’ co-parenting self-efficacy pre- and post-participation in an ACT co-parenting education intervention? (3) Will there be a significant change in high conflict co-parents’ self-regulation pre- and post-participation in an ACT co-parenting education intervention?