Mindful Parenting: A Behavioral Tool for Parent Well-Being

Parents often suffer from conditions such as stress and depression due to the high demands of parenting. In particular, parenting children with some form of developmental disability may bring about increased maladaptive behaviors that may increase daily parenting stressors. The fast-spreading repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic have left millions of parents across the globe to deal with various stressors in isolation. Recent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of mindfulness as an intervention for targeting individuals’ behaviors such as aggression, self-injurious behavior, and noncompliance while increasing overall well-being and happiness levels. Significant decreases in target behaviors are noted across studies, as well as increases in parent satisfaction and well-being. This study reviews the use of mindfulness within the scope of behavior analysis as a tool that can be quickly implemented to support parents not only through this crisis but also throughout parenthood in general.