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Effects of Cognitively-Based Compassion Training on Parenting Interactions and Children’s Empathy

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Abstract

Objectives

Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT) aims to cultivate participants’ compassion and enhance their well-being. CBCT was developed for college students and has been adapted for several unique populations, such as children in foster care, but it has only recently been used with parents of infants and young children. This analysis of data from a preliminary efficacy study examined effects of CBCT on parenting interactions and early empathy in infants and young children (aged 9 months to 5 years, 4 months). The study also examined the perceived benefits and challenges of participating in a 20-h CBCT intervention for parents.

Methods

Thirty-nine families from university-affiliated preschools participated in this study; 25 parents were in the CBCT group and 14 parents were in a wait list control group. Parents were evaluated before and after the intervention, as well as after each session on their impressions of the class and experience with the assignments. Families were evaluated at pre- and post-intervention on observed parent-child interactions and child empathy.

Results

Parents found that participating in CBCT was a positive, even life-changing experience for them, though finding time to practice the guided meditations was difficult. However, CBCT did not improve sensitive and responsive interactions between parents and children or young children’s empathy assessed in a lab setting.

Conclusions

CBCT for parents was viewed positively by participants but it did not change their observed parenting interactions or young children’s observed empathy across a 3-month period.

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Data Availability

All data are available at the Open Science Framework (DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/8E2AV).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Ashleigh M. Engbretson, Julie A. Poehlmann-Tynan, Carolyn J. Zahn-Waxler, Abra J. Vigna & Charles L. Raison

  2. University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Emily D. Gerstein

Authors
  1. Ashleigh M. Engbretson
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  2. Julie A. Poehlmann-Tynan
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  3. Carolyn J. Zahn-Waxler
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  4. Abra J. Vigna
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  5. Emily D. Gerstein
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  6. Charles L. Raison
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Contributions

AE: data coding and analysis, writing. JPT: study conceptualization, design, funding, data collection, coding and analysis, writing. CZW: study conceptualization, data coding, review of writing. AV: data collection, coding, review of writing. EG: design, data collection, review of writing. CR: study conceptualization, funding, review of writing. All authors approved the final version of this manuscript for submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ashleigh M. Engbretson.

Ethics declarations

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. The protocol was approved by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Institutional Review Board (Protocol Number 2013-0609).

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Engbretson, A.M., Poehlmann-Tynan, J.A., Zahn-Waxler, C.J. et al. Effects of Cognitively-Based Compassion Training on Parenting Interactions and Children’s Empathy. Mindfulness 11, 2841–2852 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01495-3

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