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My Baby's First Teacher: Evaluation of a Parenting Intervention for Homeless Infants
Thu, March 21, 2:15 to 3:45pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 3, Room 320Integrative Statement
Family homelessness represents a context of substantial risk, including chronic risks associated with extreme poverty as well as acute risks related to specific homeless episodes (Bassuk, DeCandia, Beach, & Berman, 2014; Cutuli & Herbers, 2014). Infants and toddlers who experience homelessness show elevated rates of developmental delays as well as later academic difficulties (Fantuzzo & Perlman, 2010; Haskett, Armstrong, & Tisdale, 2016). Despite their prevalence in the population of children experiencing family homelessness, infants are underrepresented in the literature. Research on resilience in older children who experience homelessness indicates the potential for positive, nurturing parenting to protect healthy development despite the associated risks (Gewirtz et al., 2009; Herbers et al., 2014; Masten et al., 1993). While efforts to intervene with homeless parents have been documented, there is hardly any quality research evidence regarding their effectiveness (Herbers & Cutuli, 2014; Haskett, Loehman, & Burkhart, 2014).
Our study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief, group-based parenting intervention designed specifically for parents of infants residing in emergency shelters. My Baby’s First Teacher (MBFT) involves five weekly, video-guided sessions that are facilitated by shelter staff to teach parents about infant motor, language, and social/emotional development and to demonstrate the importance of warm and responsive parenting for infant well-being.
Participants were 45 mother-infant dyads recruited while residing in three emergency shelters in Philadelphia. Data collection occurred in two rounds at each shelter, with MBFT (n=24) or care-as-usual (n=21) randomized by round. Dyads completed two assessments spaced two months apart to allow ample time for 5-week MBFT intervention. Children (62% male) in the sample ranged in age from 0 to 12 months (M = 6.07, SD = 3.43) with mothers ages 17-42 years (M = 28.0, SD = 6.18). The majority of mothers (75%) were African American. Mothers completed structured interviews about themselves, their children, and their feelings about parenting. Parent distress was measured with the Symptom Checklist (SCL-25; Derogatis, Lipman, Rickles, Uhlenhuth, & Covi, 1974). Parent-infant dyads also completed 15-minute free play interactions that were video-recorded for later observational coding. Raters assessed quality of the parent-child relationship based on mutually responsive orientation (Aksan, Kochanska, & Ortmann, 2006) with good interrater reliability (ICC > .71).
Using path analysis with an intent-to-treat design, we tested whether MBFT predicted post-test scores for parent-child relationship quality and for parent distress, controlling for pre-test scores. Results indicated associations between MBFT and change in both quality of relationship and parent distress (see Figure 1). While parent-child relationship quality improved for MBFT families as predicted (β = .397, p = .02), parent distress actually improved for the care-as-usual group and remained the same on average for MBFT parents (β = .277, p = .03). These findings constitute preliminary evidence that MBFT enhances the quality of parent-infant interactions among homeless dyads, contributing to an extremely limited evidence base for interventions with these high-risk families. However, findings regarding parent distress warrant additional consideration. MBFT parents may be gaining insight that exacerbates stress related to the challenges of parenting while homeless.