Participating in a parenting intervention in prison, perceptions from incarcerated fathers and mothers—A convergent mixed-methods study

BACKGROUND: Children of incarcerated parents run a high risk of ill-health and future delinquency, whereas positive parenting can support children’s healthy development. The For Our Children’s Sake (FOCS) parenting intervention for parents in prison was evaluated as a controlled trial during 2019–2021 within The Swedish Prison and Probation Service (SPPS). This study reports on the process evaluation and aimed to describe how parents perceived their participation and aspects that influenced implementation of the FOCS intervention. METHODS: This convergent mixed-methods study (QUAL + quan) included qualitative interview data after participation in the FOCS intervention group (12 parents), and quantitative questionnaire data from intervention and control groups (46 parents). Qualitative data were analysed using inductive qualitative content analysis and quantitative data using descriptive and non-parametric statistics. RESULTS: An integrated synthesis of the qualitative and quantitative results showed three joint concepts that provided an extended understanding of the importance of a child and parent focused intervention available to parents in prison, where FOCS was perceived as the only place where inmates could openly reflect, and express sensitive feelings and thoughts related to the children and being a parent. Also, that the SPPS as an organisation entails partly unsupportive organisational norms with irregular individual staff engagement, which made FOCS invisible in prisons, and the importance of engagement and motivation from all participants and group leaders in the group was essential for a successful FOCS group. CONCLUSION: This study showed that availability of a child and parent focused intervention in prison is perceived as very important, and at the same time dependent on a trustful relationship in the group to be rewarding to the participants, where organisational norms within the SPSS need amendments for successful implementation of FOCS. These findings can guide further implementation of similar interventions in prison.