Integrating Culture, Science, and Advocacy: A Program of Prevention Parenting Research with Low-Income Latino/a Immigrants

Significance: Latino/a immigrants are negatively impacted by widespread health and mental health disparities. This presentation will describe a federally funded program of prevention parenting research focused on integrating evidence-based knowledge, culture, and advocacy.

Innovation: A main goal of this program of research was to empirically test the impact of differential cultural adaptation as it refers to evidence-based parenting interventions. To reach this goal, two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were implemented with low-income Latino/a immigrants. We also engaged in intense advocacy work ranging from facilitating families access to basic services to supporting immigration legal representation. A dynamic advocacy component represents innovation as often times prevention interventions are limited in focus to primary intervention outcomes.

Approach: Our studies are grounded in community-based participatory research approaches (CBPR). Thus, our initial study consisted of a 2-year qualitative study aimed at learning from the life experiences of the target immigrant population. This formative phase facilitated the cultural adaptation of the efficacious intervention known as Parent Management Training, the Oregon Model (Generation PMTO^R). The second study consisted of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with Latino immigrant families with young children (ages 4-12). This investigation had the goal of empirically testing the impact of differential cultural adaptation, as examined in three conditions: (a) a culturally adapted version of PMTO (exclusive focus on parenting), (b) a culturally-enhanced version of PMTO, and (c) a wait-list control condition. The second RCT focused on testing the impact of overtly addressing issues of biculturalism, immigration, and discrimination with a sample of Latino immigrant families with young adolescents.

Results/Implications for Optimizing Prevention Science: High implementation feasibility was achieved in both studies based on high retention rates and high participant satisfaction with both adapted interventions. HLM analyses from the initial RCT indicated that the culturally enhanced parenting intervention had the most robust impact on child outcomes (p < .05, d = -.90 to -1.00). We are currently finalizing post-treatment quantitative data collection for the second RCT. Qualitative findings indicate high participant satisfaction associated with components focused on biculturalism, immigration, discrimination, and parenting skills.

Data from both studies demonstrate the importance of adhering to the original Generation PMTO core components to ensure intervention efficacy. Culturally adaptation was critical to achieve implementation feasibility and high participant satisfaction in both interventions. Findings also indicate the high need for prevention interventions to include intense advocacy components to help families cope with the impacts of oppression and discrimination.