Tuning in to Kids® for Parents of Preschool-aged Children in Portugal

Changes from baseline in parents' beliefs about children's emotions

Measured with the Parents' Beliefs About Children's Emotions Questionnaire (PBACE). The PBACE is a 33-item self-report questionnaire, with items rated on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). The present study will use the following subscales: Value of Anger, Manipulation, Control, and Autonomy. Subscale scores will be calculated by averaging item responses, with higher scores indicating stronger endorsement of the corresponding belief in that category.

Changes from baseline in parents' reactions to children's emotions

Measured with the Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES). The CCNES is a parent-report measure assessing how parents respond to children's negative emotions across 12 hypothetical scenarios, with responses rated on a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (very unlikely) to 7 (very likely). The CCNES comprises seven subscales: Emotion-Focused, Problem-Focused, Expressive Encouragement, Minimizing, Punitive, Distress, and Ignoring reactions. Items from the first three subscales are summed to create a composite measure of emotion coaching, whereas items from the remaining four subscales are summed to assess emotion dismissing responses. For each scale, total scores are calculated by averaging item responses, with higher scores indicating greater endorsement of the corresponding practice.

Changes from baseline in parents' emotion regulation (parenting-specific)

Measured with the Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting Scale (IM-P). The IM-P is a 29-item self-report instrument rated on a 5-point Likert scale, from 1 (never true) to 5 (always true). The Self-Regulation in Parenting will be assessed as primary outcome. Subscale scores will be calculated by summing item responses. Higher scores on the Self-Regulation in Parenting subscale indicate greater ability to regulate emotions and behaviors within the parenting context.

Changes from baseline in parents' emotional regulation (general)

Measured with the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale - Short Form (DERS-SF). The DERS-SF is a self-report measure, including 18 items, rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always). A total score is obtained by averaging all items, with higher scores indicating greater difficulties. In line with the recommendations of the Portuguese authors, items 1, 4 and 6 will be excluded from the analyses.

Changes from baseline in children's behavioral and emotional difficulties

Measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire - Parent (SDQ-P). The SDQ-P is a self-report measure for parents, including 25 items, each rated on a 3-point Likert scale, from 0 (not true) to 2 (certainly true). The total difficulties score is calculated by summing the scores from the following subscales: Emotional Symptoms, Conduct Problems, Hyperactivity/Inattention, and Peer Relationship Problems. Higher scores reflect greater difficulties. The Prosocial Behavior subscale is scored separately, as a measure of strengths. Two age-specific versions will be presented to parents (for children aged 3-4 and 5-6). The versions differ slightly in wording, but share the same scoring method and interpretation.

Changes from baseline in children' emotional regulation

Measured with the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC). The ERC is a self-report measure consisting of 20 items rated on a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (never) to 4 (almost always). The ERC comprises two subscales: Emotion Regulation, and Emotion Lability/Negativity. For each subscale, a total score is obtained by the sum of the items. Higher scores on the Emotion Regulation subscale indicate higher emotion regulation; whereas higher scores on the Lability/Negativity subscale indicate higher difficulties in emotion regulation.

Changes from baseline in parenting stress

Measured with the Parental Stress Scale (PSS). The PSS is a self-report scale comprising 18 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale, from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A total score is calculated by summing all items, with higher scores reflecting higher levels of parenting stress. Following the recommendations from the Portuguese authors, items 1-2 and 17-18 will be excluded from the analyses.

Changes from baseline in depressive symptoms

Measured with the Depressive Symptoms subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). This subscale consists of 7 items rated on a 4-point Likert scale, from 0 to 3 (e.g., "not at all", "most of the time"). The total score is obtained by summing the scores of the items, with higher scores being indicative of higher levels of depressive symptoms.

Acceptability of the intervention

Measured using a 16-item Likert-scale questionnaire developed by the research team; scores ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much). The questionnaire evaluates: (1) overall satisfaction with TIK; (2) the extent to which TIK met parents' expectations and contributed to improvements in parents' self-confidence, parent-child relationships, children's well-being, and parents' ability to understand and manage their children's emotions; (3) the frequency of applying TIK strategies in daily interactions; (4) the adequacy of the number, length and frequency of sessions; (5) satisfaction with the group format; (6) perceptions of facilitator competence and the intervention facilities; and (7) the perceived long-term usefulness of the acquired strategies. Participants will also indicate whether they would recommend the program to other parents (yes/no) and rate the ease of understanding and applying emotion coaching strategies on a scale from 1 (very easy) to 5 (very difficult)

Feasibility of the intervention

Measured by participant adherence to the sessions, and facilitators and barriers to implementation. Adherence is measured by session attendance, with completion defined as attending at least 4 out of 6 sessions (i.e., 67%). Participants missing sessions will be contacted to identify barriers to participation. Regardless of completion, all participants will report factors that helped or hindered participation. Dropouts will be contacted to determine specific reasons, and the timing of dropout will be recorded. Overall attrition will be measured by the number of participants not completing post-intervention and/or follow-up assessments.

Implementation fidelity of the intervention

Both facilitators and an independent observer (present in all groups) will complete the TIK Program Fidelity Checklist. For each planned activity outlined in the intervention manual, they will indicate whether the content was delivered as intended, with space provided for additional comments or notes.