Abstract:

Current society demonstrates a greater sensitivity to support needs related to the well-being of families. This sensitivity is crucial in Angola, as recommended by UNESCO. In the literature, it is recognized that there is a progressive concern of the Angolan provincial governments in relation to the prevention, protection, support, information, monitoring and empowerment of families, believing in this way to contribute to the social and cultural cohesion and to the economic development of the Angolan population. The focus of this study aggregates, as a general objective, the study of family support needs and parenting in the Angolan context from the point of view of fathers, mothers and professionals linked to family support during COVID-19. In this research, the sample was defined from the voluntary participation of fathers, mothers, and professionals. In the sample of parents, there were 216 fathers and mothers and in the sample of professionals, there were 159, inserted in a set of entities and institutional services involved in educational processes and assistance to families. The selection of the sample was made by non-probabilistic sampling, based on the information available on the institutions and services of support and assistance to families. The investigation is of a quantitative nature, favoring the use of a questionnaire survey with a positive parenting scale, previously validated with 17 items distributed across 4 dimensions: family involvement, development of parental affection, communication, and control within the family and, by Lastly, activity sharing. The scale adopted is a 5-point Likert scale. The data obtained were processed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS - version 28). The results point to a statistically significant relationship between the socioeconomic variables (gender, age, educational qualifications and monthly income) with:
i) the mode of family involvement, in the sense of the presence of fathers and mothers in their children's daily lives in order to facilitate the bonds necessary for the harmonious family connection;
ii) affection and relationship towards the development of parental affection of older parents in times of pandemic crisis; and
iii) sharing of activities within the family, where household chores were shared among all members of the family, namely those with higher monthly income and more academic qualifications.

Overall, the results of the study allow us to conclude that parents who have more access to information and better levels of education and income are more competent and aware of how they should educate and interact in the parent-child relationship. Globally, the practices of professionals in areas of parenting ensure that they are less coercive and less conflicting. These data allow us to obtain evidence about parenting in Angola, in times of COVID-19, that is, in times also for the population as well as the already existing conflicts of a political nature. This study is expected to provide a set of results that lead to guidelines on the support of state policies and services, in extraordinary social times and, in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords:

Parental Intervention Practices, Parenting, Inclusion.