The Development of the College-Bound Babies Parenting Curriculum: A Culturally-Grounded Approach to Evidence-Based Parenting Intervention

Introduction:  Current research demonstrates that even the most promising interventions do not demonstrate effectiveness with some communities and populations because of a lack of engagement and influence (Barrera, Catro & Steiker, 2011). Further, understanding the preferences and perspectives of families around parenting in a given community is an essential part of creating such engagement (Ingoldsby, 2010). As such, this poster will provide information on the development of Family Academy: College Bound Babies (CBB)curriculum, a parenting intervention within the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ), a promise neighborhood in North Minneapolis. NAZ is located in part of the community where positive parenting outcomes are challenged by extreme poverty, high levels of violence and poor academic outcomes for students. CBB was developed for parents of children ages birth to 3, using a community-based participatory research method to respond to the unique needs of the families in the community with a  culturally-grounded  approach to selecting and tailoring evidence-based strategies to improve parenting behaviors. CBB aims to cultivate skills in families that support empowerment and positive parenting while reducing barriers to engagement in evidence-based practices.

Methodology & Results: CBB was created through an iterative curriculum development process specifically tailored to the needs of families in NAZ by deconstructing a community-selected evidence-based parenting intervention series (Incredible Years, Toddler and Preschool Basic (IY); Webster-Stratton & Reid, 2010). During this process, community stakeholders examined each component of the IY model across 8 months and determined which portions would be an ideal fit for families in NAZ.  At the end of this thorough review and deconstruction, we created complementary sets of materials to support the portions of the curriculum that remained.  These materials included: (a) a research and content manual demonstrating each strategy’s effectiveness with African American, urban or families experiencing poverty, (b) community context sections illustrating how each skill can be demonstrated in the community, (c) specific instruction of each skill to teach parents how to use each strategy (d) in-home booster modules to support practice of the strategies in real-life settings, (e) fidelity of implementation and session assessments, (f) evaluation, and (g) facilitator guides the streamline the presentation of requisite “active ingredients.”

           

Conclusions: In sum, this poster will illustrate this iterative process, highlight the curriculum pieces that are unique to NAZ and describe the current random control trial underway to test for efficacy of the CBB model with parents of children ages birth to 3.