Poster #81 - Parent Engagement in a Culturally Adapted Intervention for Immigrant Parents of Children Attending Head Start

• In Event: 3-106 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

While two-generation early intervention programs have been found to be efficacious for those who participate, low rates of parent engagement limit the ability of these programs to realize their full benefit (Chacko et al., 2016; Mendez, 2010). More research is needed to identify factors that impact parents’ decision-making about participation, especially within recently arriving and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Some work indicates that parents who perceive their family to have needs that are targeted by an intervention may enroll and engage at higher rates (Perrino et al., 2001; Spoth & Redmond, 1995). The current study examines immigrant parents’ perceived need for intervention and engagement in a culturally adapted intervention aimed at increasing immigrant parents’ engagement in learning. We hypothesized that parents reporting lower efficacy in the educational domain and higher levels of child disruptive play at home would attend more intervention sessions.

Method
The study participants were 72 immigrant children (38 boys, 34 girls, M_Age = 3.61, SD = .71) enrolled in Head Start and their caregivers. Most families were relatively recent immigrants to the United States (M_Residency = 6.65 yrs., SD = 3.94yrs.). The sample of children was 83.3% Hispanic, 11.1% Turkish, 2.8% White, 1.4% Asian and 1.4 % other. The majority of reporting caregivers were mothers (84.7%), with most caregivers being married (61.1%) and employed part (38.9%) or full time (26.4%). Caregivers reported on demographics, time in the U.S., acculturation (AMAS-ZABB; Zea et al., 2003), perceived barriers to and benefits of the intervention, parent efficacy in the educational domain (ABPS; Wentzel, 1993), and child disruptive play (PIPPS; Fantuzzo, Mendez & Tighe, 1998). Parent attendance was recorded at each intervention session.

Results
See figure 1 for intervention attendance details. No study variables were significantly correlated with intervention attendance. However, findings indicate acculturation status played a role, with higher perceived barriers to participation being associated with a greater endorsement of US identity (r = .31, p < .01) and higher perceived benefits being associated with a shorter residency in the US (r = -.37, p < .01). Additionally, parents’ with a greater endorsement of native identity reported lower levels of efficacy in the educational domain (r = -.26, p < .05). Finally, higher levels of child disruptive play were associated with lower levels of parent efficacy (r = -.23, p < .05).
A hierarchical linear regression was run to determine if child disruptive play moderates the relationship between parent efficacy and intervention attendance, above and beyond the impacts of key contextual factors, intervention attitudes, parent efficacy, and child disruptive play alone (see table 1). The model predicting intervention attendance was not significant. However, significant variance was added when parent efficacy and child disruptive play were added to the model. Given the lack of data on immigrant parent engagement, this pilot study should be taken as evidence for future research into acculturation and time in U.S and family needs for intervention with larger samples. Understanding barriers to participation in interventions within ECE settings is critical for assisting newly-arriving immigrants with adjustment.

Authors

• Emily Andrews, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Presenting Author

• Julia Mendez Smith, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author