Adapting Grow! for Online Delivery: Rationale and Processes

Introduction: Traditional approaches to parenting interventions require delivery by a practitioner or facilitator, either in the home, community, or an institutional setting. In recent years, however, parenting professionals have begun to increasingly recognize the value of online technologies in delivering parenting education. There is emerging evidence to suggest that at least some parents prefer self-administered delivery formats, such as online programs, over traditional face-to-face approaches. There is also a small, yet growing body of experimental data indicating that online parenting programs can have a positive influence on parenting knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Still, parenting education via the Internet is relatively new, and our knowledge of its design and the specific mechanisms through which positive parent and/or child outcomes are achieved remain unclear.

Methods: This paper reports on the adaptation of Grow! for delivery via the Internet (Grow! Online). During the adaptation process, the core components or deep structure (e.g., the program’s knowledge components, theory of change, and logic model) of Grow! did not change significantly; however, the delivery process or surface structure (e.g., observable “superficial” characteristics of the intervention) shifted to accommodate the online environment. Further, the original curriculum was made multimodal by the inclusion of several non-verbal delivery components―namely facilitated asynchronous group chats, including on-demand email consultation, and automated text message prompts―that mirror the peer and professional support components which were integral to the recent face-to-face implementation of Grow!.

The paper also introduces a study designed to formally evaluate and optimize Grow! Online using the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) model. This study will employ a factorial design so as to examine the individual causal effects of the above-listed peer and professional supports, which are hypothesized to be “active ingredients” related to the high-quality implementation of Grow! Online in real-world settings. The proposed factorial design will enable the researchers to explore the empirical performance of these specific components so as to make decisions about their effects. The ultimate composition of the intervention will be based on the optimization criterion of most effective online parenting program that can be implemented for less than $300 per person.

Conclusions: Internet-based parenting education programs show much promise for promoting positive parenting and fostering child and family resilience. By using interactive multimodal learning environments to promote parent engagement and learning, intervention scientists can develop, evaluate, and optimize online universal parenting interventions that are feasible, efficacious, and cost-effective.