4.2. Conclusion
The FOCS intervention had beneficial effects on relationship quality, and potential to influence criminal attitude and interest in other treatment intervention. This is the first scientific evaluation of a parenting intervention for incarcerated parents in a Northern European setting and the findings show that a parenting intervention for incarcerated parents has the potential to influence both parenting outcomes but also outcomes related to a criminal lifestyle. These are encouraging results for both the children who face great risk for poor health and marginalisation, and for the parents who may be supported in changing their criminal behaviour. Future studies should investigate intervention effectiveness on long-term outcomes related to both child health and parental recidivism and could also be expanded to probation and jail settings, as well as other Northern European countries. Further development of intervention components could be made which focus on practicing parenting skills with the hypothesis that such developments could increase intervention effectiveness.