Navigating Challenges and Strategies for Counseling for Parents of at-Risk Adolescents: A Focus Group Study

Background and Purpose: Adolescents face significant challenges in their school and parent relationships, highlighting the crucial role of parental involvement during this pivotal period. Parental counseling has been discussed as effective in enhancing parent-adolescent relationships, alleviating parenting stress, and fostering positive attitudes toward adolescents. Additionally, effective parental counseling is instrumental in optimizing adolescent counseling outcomes and fostering adolescent mental well-being. In South Korea, adolescents have become increasingly complex in recent years, dealing with issues such as substance abuse and cyber-related challenges, which pose ongoing challenges in effectively engaging parents. Despite this, there is a scarcity of recent research on guiding parental counseling in the context of adolescents coping with diverse challenges. This study aims to explore counselors' challenges and strategies in parental counseling and develop tailored interventions to effectively meet contemporary parental demands and requirements.

Methods: In this qualitative study, 15 participants were recruited through convenience and purposive sampling. A two-hour-long in-person focus group interview was performed with each of the three different groups (5 counselors, 5 parents of at-risk adolescents who have been getting counseling services, and 5 counseling teachers from middle- and high-school). The recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim. We conducted thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke’s six-stage approach: (1) Familiarizing with the data, (2) developing initial codes, (3) identifying themes, (4) discovering potential themes, (5) defining and naming themes, and (6) reporting the findings. Three investigators analyzed the transcripts separately and discussed to reach a consensus on the final themes and codes to enhance trustworthiness.

Results: The study identified 5 themes and 14 codes related to parental counseling as follows. We explored the importance of parental counseling, including its effectiveness and factors influencing outcomes, as well as its significance in adolescent counseling, especially concerning at-risk adolescents. Challenges in parental counseling encompassed case-specific issues, critical junctures in the counseling process, individual counseling requests, and structural limitations. Effective interventions emphasized professionalism, trust-building, and impactful initial meetings. Expectations for counseling centers included structural improvements and enhanced service provision. Program development requirements emphasized the need for tailored formats, practical content, and accessible reference materials. Overall, the findings provide insights into the complexities of parental counseling and offer valuable considerations for improving counseling effectiveness and service delivery.

Conclusions and Implications: These findings underscore the significance of integrating parental counseling into social work practice and policy initiatives in South Korea. Social workers should prioritize incorporating parental counseling interventions into their practice to enhance family dynamics and promote adolescent well-being. This may involve providing training and resources to social workers to effectively engage parents in counseling sessions and address parenting stress. Additionally, policymakers should consider allocating resources to support the implementation of parental counseling programs within communities, schools, and healthcare settings. Policy initiatives should also prioritize funding for research and evaluation of parental counseling interventions to ensure their effectiveness and sustainability. By prioritizing parental counseling in both practice and policy, social workers and policymakers can contribute to improving family relationships and addressing the diverse needs of adolescents in communities.