Enhancing Positive Parent–Child Communication Through an Emotional Food Journal Intervention: Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Study

Abstract

Positive parent–child communication plays a crucial role in supporting children’s emotional development and fostering healthy family relationships. However, not all parents have sufficient opportunities for reflective engagement to understand and respond empathetically to their children's emotions in everyday interactions. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the Emotional Food Journal as a family-based reflective intervention for enhancing positive parent–child communication. This study employed a quasi-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design involving 20 mother–child dyads selected through purposive sampling. Parent–child communication was measured using the Parent–Child Communication Quality Scale administered before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test. The results indicated an improvement in positive communication scores, with the mean score increasing from 30.4 at pretest to 36.4 at posttest. Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference between the two measurements (Z = −3.21, p = .001) with a large effect size (r = .51). These findings suggest that the Emotional Food Journal has the potential to enhance communication quality and emotional connectedness between parents and children through reflective activities integrated into daily family routines.

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