Poster #168 - Measuring Content and Process Fidelity of the How-to Parenting Program

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Prevention and Interventions

Integrative Statement

Fidelity assessment is crucial to any intervention. We sought to evaluate a parenting program’s content and process fidelity. Content fidelity is defined as the delivery of the content planned by the protocol whereas process fidelity refers to “the manner in which the content is supposed to be delivered” (Dumas, Lynch et al. 2001). The studied primary preventive intervention is the group workshop “How to talk so kids will listen & listen so kids will talk” (Faber & Mazlish, 1980, 2001). It teaches parents ways to improve their communication skills. Preliminary results from a pre-post study (Joussemet, Mageau & Koestner, 2013) suggest positive outcomes as it fosters a more authoritative parenting style and better child mental health.
Recently, Joussemet, Mageau, Larose, Briand and Vitaro (2018) conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a wait-list control, to assess the program’s efficacy in a more rigorous way. The goal of the present study is to examine the program’s fidelity within this RCT.
The RCT was conducted over three yearly waves, between 2014 and 2018. Participants were parents (N = 315) of children, aged from 8 to 12 years old, recruited in 15 grade schools. The program consists of seven weekly 2.5 hours sessions, and was offered to a total of 30 groups. Each was led by two trained group facilitators, in French (Faber & Mazlish, 2001).
To evaluate content fidelity, all sessions were audio-recorded. The present study assesses seven groups. Audio-recordings were available for 45 of 49 sessions. The majority (38 sessions; 84.4%) were coded by two independent coders, who obtained an inter-rater reliability of 91.1%. Coders listened to all the available sessions and indicated whether each section took place or not, by using scoring grids based on facilitators’ workbook (Faber & Mazlish, 2001). The average content fidelity was 86.5%, well above the 80% goal set by principal investigators. Content validity varied from a session to another, ranging from 76.8% (session 1 about empathy) to 90.9% (session 6 about roles).
In terms of process validity, both coders and parents rated facilitators’ empathy, enthusiasm and preparedness, on a scale ranging from 1 to 5. Coders evaluated facilitators as highly empathetic (M = 4.2), enthusiastic (M = 4.5) and well prepared (M = 4.1). Participating parents’ ratings are concordant with coders’ assessments, with high mean scores on empathy (M = 4.4), enthusiasm (M = 4.4) and preparedness (M = 4.5).
Together, these findings suggest that the parenting group “How to talk so kids will listen & listen so kids will talk” (Faber & Mazlish, 1980, 2001) can be implemented in the general population with highly satisfactory content and process fidelity. Future research is needed to assess whether this program’s fidelity moderates the program’s effects on parents’ learning and on their children’s mental health.

Authors

• Valexie Lafontaine, University of Montreal
  Presenting Author

• Jessica Corbeil, Université de Montréal
  Non-Presenting Author

• Camille Marquis-Brideau, University of Montreal
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kathleen Adelaire, University of Montreal
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mireille Joussemet, Université de Montréal
  Non-Presenting Author

• Genevieve A. Mageau, University of Montreal
  Non-Presenting Author