Assessing a parental break up family program from a Therapeutic Jurisprudence approach

Abstract

The literature has stated that family conflict, and not so much the divorce itself, can cause serious harm to parents and children, with effects that may persist into adulthood. Education and divorce support programs were designed to help couples to cope with their parental breakup. This paper examines the divorce education reference program for parents in Spain, the Parental Breakup Not Family Breakup (PBNFB) program based on the TJ approach. In order to assess the effects of the PBNFB program, 861 attendants (439 fathers and 422 mothers) to the program were assessed in the psychological adjustment; the quality of the parents’ relationship and the agreements reached; and the satisfaction with the program. The results revealed a positive and significant effects in psychological adjustment (improving in all mental health problem markers and in the general distress in 61%); a significant improvement in parental relations, progressing from a bad relation to a relation guided to the children’s best interest and reaching agreements for bring up their children; and reporting a significant satisfaction with the intervention (program participation explained 72,3% of the variance of satisfaction). It is discussed the implications of interventions focused in promoting positive parenting in mitigating the adverse effects of the parental separation in family members.