Stress and Coping Strategies: Effective Parent Support for Latina Mothers and Their Children

In 2016 the results from multiple focus groups conducted in rural and urban communities (California and Washington) led to the development of a stress and coping parent- education program for low-income Latina mothers with children 9- to 12- years old. A team of faculty and graduate students coded and analyzed the data from the focus groups and developed a preliminary program which was then piloted with two different groups. The initial results indicated that participant mothers were, 1) more confident in helping their children deal with difficult emotions, 2) more confident in helping their children understand their feelings; 3) more likely to use the strategies they learned to help their children cope during stressful situations; 4) able to better manage the stressful situation by recognizing what is (not) controllable, and 5) less likely to have negative thoughts and emotions get in the way when dealing with a problem. The positive results of the pilots led to finalization of a comprehensive 7- week program for Latina mothers which focused on parent’s stress and coping; understanding stress in middle childhood, learning how to identify and communicate about stress, understanding primary and secondary coping strategies, and what parents can to do support their children. Implementation of eight randomized control trials of Latina mothers (n=160) were conducted in rural and urban communities in Washington and California. The program was delivered in Spanish and pre- and post- assessments (in Spanish) were collected for analysis. Intervention observations and facilitator reports were utilized to determine fidelity to program delivery and implementation. We will introduce the final results of analysis of the program from the control trials and future implications for implementation of the stress and coping parent- education program for low income-Latina mothers.