The effectiveness of the Incredible Years parenting programme for Tongan parents

Abstract

RESEARCH QUESTIONS What were the participants’ experiences of being parented/parenting growing up in Tonga and here in New Zealand? What are the experiences of Tongan parents participating in Tongan and mainstream Incredible Years parenting courses? What are the ways of improving the effectiveness of the Incredible Years parenting course for Tongan parents?

ABSTRACT There is a dearth of literature and research about the effectiveness of parenting programmes for Pacific people here in New Zealand and in the Islands. The use of physical punishment by Tongan parents as a core disciplinary practice is concerning. As a result, the parents who migrate from Tonga with their Tongan way of parenting to a country like New Zealand are challenged by New Zealand beliefs about parenting and laws prohibiting the physical punishment of children. For this study, I wanted to see if the Incredible Years parenting programme completed by Tongan parents can be effective in helping them find alternatives to physical punishment and other forms of punishment. This study used talanoa methodology with 15 participants from the Auckland region – young parents, middle-aged parents and grandparents. Eleven of the participants were born in Tonga and four were New-Zealand-born. This thesis aims to explore the participants’ experiences of parenting and being parented growing up in Tonga and New Zealand. The overall focus of this study was the effectiveness of the Incredible Years parenting programme for the participants who attended the Tongan and mainstream Incredible Years parenting programmes. Moreover, this study aims to suggest some other ways of improving the effectiveness of the Incredible Years parenting programme for Tongan parents.

A thematic analysis of the data was used to identify the reality of the participants’ experiences. The key themes were the tension between the traditional Tongan way of parenting, with its high level of community support, and the challenges of New Zealand environment and the anti-smacking law; the experiences of the participants as children and parents with regard to punishment, bonding and the changing roles of parenting; participants’ perspectives on the value and outcomes of the Incredible Years parenting programme and challenges of integrating the programme and anga fakatonga (the Tongan way). The findings highlight that Tongan parents struggled with the critique of the use of punishment as this was often seen as the way of ensuring respect for the status of the Tongan way of doing things and respect for Tongan culture. However, the high value of the Incredible Years parenting programme was acknowledged by participants in that there were positive parenting tools that could enhance cultural identity and status. Tongan traditions such as kali loa (a metaphor for a bedtime process of storytelling and sharing) that could be embedded in future Incredible Years programmes for Tongan parents. The implications for future adjustment of the Incredible Years parenting with a Tongan cultural framework are discussed.