In this master's thesis, we present an example of a support program for parents with preschool children. Parents learn to improve their parental competence and increase parenting effectiveness and general satisfaction through experience with their preschool children. In the theoretical part, we touched on parenting. Its foundations are laid in the primary family and continue to grow throughout the relationship, family planning, and the birth of the first child. Through parenting a preschool child, parents develop and improve their parental competence, find out their parenting style, and come to understand the value of a child's play. Slowly, uncertainty about parenting can appear, so parents seek various forms of information and help. A large amount of professional literature, various online content, lectures, and a diverse range of preventive support programs is at their disposal. Our model of a preventive support program for parents with preschool children is described together with other preventive work methods in parenting in Slovenia. A real-world example of the first session of the preventive support program is also given. We researched our support program's suitability and efficiency to provide preventive help for parents with preschool children. The quantitative study included 47 parents who regularly attended a preventive support program for two months. In the qualitative part of the study, parents who participated in the program were also organized into focus groups, in which they evaluated and helped shape the preventive support program. Structured surveys about general satisfaction with parenting, parenting style, and ratings on "what kind of parent am I?" and "what kind of parent should I be?" were used. The results showed that general satisfaction with parenting increased after participating in the preventive support program. The differences in ratings on "what kind of parent am I?" and "what kind of parent should I be?" were also lower. In the focus groups, the participating parents drew up a non-structured survey questionnaire on parenting effectiveness and competence, which they filled in before, during, and after taking part in the support program. The survey results showed that parenting effectiveness and competence increased after participating in the program. During the last focus group meeting, the parents rated the preventive support program for parents with preschool children as a suitable and effective preventive help method. This master's thesis can perhaps be one of the contributions in applied preventive work methods with parents and families.
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