Families experiencing child maltreatment or risk
factors for child maltreatment often receive referrals to
interventions focused on changing parenting practices.
Compliance with specific parenting programs can be chal-
lenging as many of the stressors that place families at-risk
may also interfere with program participation. Because
families may receive limited benefit from programs they do
not fully receive, it is critical to understand the relationship
between parenting stress and barriers to program comple-
tion. We used structural equation modeling to examine the
relationship among parenting stress, perceived barriers to
program participation, and program completion in two
datasets involving low-income parents. Data were collected
at two time points from a sample of parents involved with
child welfare services and a sample of parents considered
at-risk of future involvement (total study n = 803). Direct
paths from parenting stress at time 1 to barriers to partici-
pation and parenting stress at time 2, and from parenting
stress at time 2 to program completion were significant.
Interestingly, increased barriers to participation were related
to increased parenting stress at time 2, and greater parenting
stress was related to increased program completion. Results

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• Barriers to Participation in Parenting Programs: The Relationship between Parenting Stress, Perceived Barriers, and Program Completion