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The Role of Parental Support Groups in Promoting Mental Health within Conductive Education
51-66Views:113In our study, we present one of the works from the Research Workshop on Social Integration and Employment Support at the Pető András Faculty of Semmelweis University, Budapest. This work examines conductive education and the collaboration with families, summarizing the broad activities and crucial role of mental health parent groups. Our research continues an earlier previous study (Kapcsándy, et al., 2024) aimed at evaluating the mental health parent groups operating within the Faculty. For two decades now, group sessions have been held here, led by conductors with knowledge in psychology and mental health, offering support to parents in coping with crises, ensuring they do not feel isolated in their struggles. In our study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with parents, specifically mothers (n=13), who have participated in these support groups over the past 15-20 years. Our aim is to summarize the insights gained from these conversations and, based on the findings, offer recommendations to both conductor training and practice regarding mental health support. The interviews were coded using the MAXQDA software. We explored which areas of family life were supported by the parent groups led by psychologists and conductors and how participants perceived the group’s supportive nature. An important message for the Faculty is that all parents had a positive experience with the sessions, highlighting the demand for a systematic provision of mental health support for families. During the interviews, we observed that these sessions had a significant impact on the mothers’ later lives, with several choosing a helping profession as a result of the group’s influence. We also encountered cases where the children of mothers attending the groups chose to study in supportive fields (e.g., psychology, therapeutic riding instructor, and teacher).