Differences in Usage of an Online Supplement to an Intervention for Military Parents

Introduction: Information technology holds promise for the dissemination of empirically based parenting interventions. Little is known, however, about which parents are most likely to be the consumers of such tools.  This research is guided by the stages of change model which suggests that participants who are motivated to change take action and are reinforced by positive experiences. Utilizing data collected as part of an ongoing randomized controlled trial targeting military families who have experienced deployment (N=250), the current study seeks to examine the use of online supplements in After Deployment, Adaptive Parenting Tools/ADAPT, a parenting intervention for military parents.  We hypothesized that parents’ demographic characteristics, pre-intervention attitudes towards parent training, and attendance at face-to-face sessions would differentiate between parents who used online tools and those who did not.

Methods: Descriptive analyses were conducted for participants assigned to the first cohort of the ADAPT intervention group (n=29*) to examine parents’ overall use of various online tools (videos, knowledge checks, summaries, handouts, and mindfulness exercises). T-tests were conducted to examine differences in parents’ use of online tools based on parent education, parents’ views of parent training programs, and face-to-face attendance. 

Results:  Parents completed on average 12 of the 56 online components across 14 sessions.  Over half (55%) completed at least one online component. On average, parents completed 31% of the videos, 26% of the knowledge checks, 25% of session summaries, 17% of parent handouts, and 14% of mindfulness exercises.   Parent views of parent training programs did not significantly differentiate those who used the online tools from those who did not. T-tests revealed that those who attended face-to-face sessions were more likely to access online sessions and use a number of online components than those who did not attend (p<.001).  Parents who were more educated were more likely to complete knowledge checks and access handouts and summaries than less educated parents (p<.01). 

Conclusions: Two variables differentiated online usage: face-to-face attendance and education. Although parents’ views of parent training did not differentiate online use, face-to-face attendance appears to encourage use of online tools. Parents with higher levels of education may prefer more verbal or printed sources of information (versus the very visual videos). These findings have implications for tailoring interventions to meet the specific needs and preferences of parents.

 *data analyses are underway, and will be presented for an additional 74 participants, for a total n=103 intervention participants