Parenting Interventions for Forcibly Displaced Families: A systematic review

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS09 Topic - Solicited Content: Refugee Children

Abstract

Background: An estimated 79.5 million individuals have been displaced globally, nearly 40% of whom are children. Parenting interventions may have the potential to improve psychosocial outcomes for displaced families. To investigate this, we conducted a systematic review to a) characterize the types of parenting interventions that have been evaluated among displaced families, b) assess their efficacy across a range of contexts, and c) describe their cultural and contextual adaptations.
Hypotheses: Our overall aim was to describe the programs that have been evaluated with forcibly displaced programs on the basis of 1) population studied, 2) cultural and contextual adaptations, 3) the primary and secondary outcomes studied in relation to these programs. We also pre-registered two hypotheses; we hypothesized that the majority of studies would be conducted in high-income countries given distributions of resources for research (H1) and would show evidence of efficacy relative to a control group given meta-analytic evidence for parenting programs among other populations (H2).
Methods: The review followed PRISMA guidelines. Five electronic databases were systematically searched from each database’s point of inception to February of 2020. During the first stage of the screening process, all articles describing caregiver interventions for forcibly displaced families were included in order to provide a scoping review of the state of the literature. At stage two, only randomized-controlled trials and quasi-experimental designs were included, allowing for quantitative descriptions of program effects. Chacon-Moscoso and colleagues’ (2016) checklist was used to assess each study’s risk of bias, while Chambless & Hollon's (1998) criteria for Empirically Supported Psychological Therapies was used to judge the overall evidence for each intervention.
Results: A total of 30 articles (24 studies) were identified in stage one. 95.8% of these articles were published in the past 10 years. Of the 30 articles, 14 articles (10 studies) reported on the results of an RCT or quasi-experimental design to assess program efficacy. Stage 1 studies (i.e., non-controlled studies) groups were more likely to be conducted in high income countries (78%), while Stage 2 studies (i.e., randomized trials and quasi-experiments) were predominantly conducted in low- and middle- income countries (70%). Relative to control groups, caregiving programs showed significant, beneficial effects across the domains of parenting behaviors and attitudes, child psychosocial and developmental outcomes, and parent mental health. Cultural adaptations were coded as deep- vs. surface-structure adaptations (Resnicow et al. (2000), and all studies used some form of surface-structure adaptation. Recruitment and engagement strategies are described given that these are challenges in research with these communities.
Conclusions: The evidence base for parenting programs specifically for displaced families has expanded in recent years but remains limited. Parenting programs show promise for reducing the negative effects of forced displacement on families, but future studies are needed to understand which programs show the greatest potential for improving outcomes at scale.

Authors

• Sarah Gillespie, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jasmine M Banegas, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Presenting Author

• Joseph Hanlon Maxwell, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Athena Chung Yin Chan, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Neveen Ali-Saleh Darawshy
  Non-Presenting Author

• Akash Wasil, University of Pennsylvania
  Non-Presenting Author

• Scott Marsalis, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Abigail Gewirtz, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author