Motivational Inteviewing and Family Mediation; Outcomes for Separated Families

Family mediation is a widely used alternative to litigation for separated parents to resolve conflict about parenting arrangements. The current research includes two studies. The first investigated engagement in family mediation, and attempted to predict those families that would not engage in or complete the mediation process. In a sample of 524 parents who initiated family mediation, 354 (67%) did not complete mediation; 113 (22%) disengaged prior to their former partner being invited and 241 (46%) did not complete mediation because their former partner refused to engage in mediation. I tested whether socio-demographic variables, psychological distress, co-parental acrimony, parenting problems or children’s behavioral difficulties predicted mediation engagement. Only high inter-parental acrimony predicted failure to engage in mediation. A sample of families that did not mediate (n = 131) showed high psychological distress, acrimony, parenting problems and child adjustment difficulties, which remained unchanged 6 months later. The second study was a randomised controlled trial, testing if motivational interviewing (MI) improved agreement rate and outcomes for separated families relative to mediation as usual (MAU). The outcome of mediation was classified as no agreement, partial agreement, and full agreement. Parental psychological distress, child adjustment, and co-parental conflict was assessed before and after the mediation, and at a three month follow-up. The mediation outcomes for the MI condition included a reduced rate of no agreement in comparison to the MAU condition (33% versus 42% of all mediations), and double the rate of full agreements (16% versus 33%). There was no significant difference in psychological distress, child adjustment, or acrimony between the MI and MAU conditions. While outcomes for the MI condition included enhanced agreement rates, there was no significant difference in psychological outcomes