A Balancing Act: Integrating Evidence‐Based Knowledge and Cultural Relevance in a Program of Prevention Parenting Research with Latino/a Immigrants

• Published date: 01 June 2016
• Author: Gabriela López‐Zerón,Cris M. Sullivan,Melanie M. Domenech Rodríguez,José Rubén Parra‐Cardona,Guillermo Bernal,Michael R. Whitehead,A. Rocío Escobar‐Chew
• Date: 01 June 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12190

A Balancing Act: Integrating Evidence-Based

Knowledge and Cultural Relevance in a Program of

Prevention Parenting Research with Latino/a

Immigrants

JOS

E RUB

EN PARRA-CARDONA*

GABRIELA L 

OPEZ-ZER 

ON*

MELANIE M. DOMENECH RODRI

´GUEZ

†

A. ROCI

´O ESCOBAR-CHEW*

MICHAEL R. WHITEHEAD*

CRIS M. SULLIVAN

‡

GUILLERMO BERNAL

§

Family therapists have a unique opportunity to contribute toward the reduction of wide-

spread mental health disparities impacting diverse populations by developing applied

lines of research focused on cultural adaptation. For example, although evidence-based

prevention parent training (PT) interventions have been found to be efficacious with

various Euro-American populations, there is a pressing need to understand which specific

components of PT interventions are perceived by ethnic minority parents as having the

highest impact on their parenting practices. Equally important is to examine the perceived

cultural relevance of adapted PT interventions. This qualitative investigation had the pri-

mary objective of comparing and contrasting the perceived relevance of two culturally

adapted versions of the efficacious parenting intervention known as Parent Management

Training, the Oregon Model (PMTO). According to feasibility indicators provided by 112

Latino/a immigrant parents, as well as findings from a qualitative thematic analysis, the

core parenting components across both adapted interventions were identified by the major-

ity of research participants as relevant to their parenting practices. Participants exposed to

the culturally enhanced intervention, which included culture-specific sessions, also

reported high satisfaction with components exclusively focused on cultural issues that

*Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.

†

Department of Psychology, Utah State University, Logan, UT.

‡

Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.

§

Institute for Psychological Research, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jos

e Rub

en Parra-Cardona, 3 D,

Human Ecology, Michigan State University, 552 W. Circle Drive, East Lansing, MI 48824-1030.

E-mail: parracar@msu.edu.

This project was supported by Award Number R34MH087678 from the National Institute of Mental

Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official

views of the National Institute of Mental Health or the National Institutes of Health. Supplementary fund-

ing was provided by the MSU Office of the Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies (OVPRGS),

the MSU College of Social Science, and the MSU Department of Health and Human Development. We

would like to express our deep gratitude to Marion Forgatch, ISII Executive Director, and Laura Rains, ISII

Director of Implementation and Training, for their resolved and continuous support as we have engaged in

dissemination efforts with underserved populations in the United States. We deeply appreciate the support

from Co-Investigators in this study: Deborah Bybee, PhD, & Lisa Tams, MSW. The support from our

community partner, Southwest Solutions, has been essential for the success of this project. Brian Dates,

PhD, Director of Evaluation and Research at Southwest Solutions, has led this collaboration and consis-

tently supported our efforts. Michael Whitehead is now at Sageview Youth Psychology, Richland, WA.

321

Family Process, Vol. 55, No. 2, 2016 ©2015 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12190

directly impact their parenting practices (e.g., immigration challenges, biculturalism).

This investigation illustrates the relevant contributions that family therapy scholars can

offer toward addressing mental health disparities, particularly as it refers to developing

community-based prevention interventions that achieve a balance between evidence-bas ed

knowledge and cultural relevance.

Keywords: Parent training; Prevention research; Latino/a parents; Cultural adaptation

Fam Proc 55:321–337, 2016

Widespread mental health disparities continue to impact underserved ethnic minority

populations throughout the United States (SAHMSA, 2015). Precursors of these dis-

parities include significant access barriers to efficacious and culturally relevant mental

health services (e.g., high cost of services, fear of discrimination). With the recent passage

of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, family therapists have a unique opportunity to address

these gaps in service delivery and research. For example, there is a pressing need for cul-

turally adapted prevention parenting interventions aimed at reaching diverse famili es

before they experience a variety of relationship difficulties (Baker, Arnold, & Meagher,

2011).

Our program of prevention research is responsive to calls by scholars to demonstrate

the impact of culturally relevant mental health services for underserved minority popula-

tions (Alegr

ıa, Atkins, Farmer, Slaton, & Stelk, 2010). Thus, the primary objective of the

current qualitative investigation was to compare and contrast the perceived relevance of

two culturally adapted versions of the efficacious parenting intervention known as Parent

Management Training, the Oregon Model (PMTO

R

). This qualitative study is embedded

within a larger program of research funded by the National Institute of Mental Healt h

(NIMH), focused on empirically testing the differential efficacy of the two culturally

adapted interventions. In this article, we describe the level of acceptability of the two

differentially culturally adapted interventions according to first-person accounts provide d

by 112 Latino/a immigrant parents.

Cultural Adaptation

Substantial empirical research indicates that underserved ethnic minority populat ions

can benefit from culturally adapted interventions (Barrera, Castro, Strycker, & Toobert,

2013; Martinez & Eddy, 2005; Smith, Domenech Rodr

ıguez, & Bernal, 2011). However, in

order to be effective, adapted interventions must ensure a close fit with the cultural values

and experiences of target populations (Castro, Barrera, & Martinez, 2004) . Further, cul-

tural adaptation scholars emphasize the need for studies aimed at clarifying which specific

components of adapted interventions, as well as methods of intervention delivery, are per-

ceived as most relevant by the recipients of interventions (Castro, Barrera, & Holleran

Steiker, 2010). There is also a scarcity of qualitative studies focused on describing first-

person accounts of ethnic minority parents’ perceived satisfaction with adapted interven-

tions (Piquero, Farrington, Welsh, Tremblay, & Jennings, 2009).

Parent Training Interventions

Parent training (PT) consists of the use of didactic and applied instruction and behavior

modeling for effectively managing child behavioral problems (Martinez & Eddy, 2005).

The positive impact of PT interventions for the treatment of child conduct problems has

been thoroughly documented in research in real-world settings (Lundahl, Nimer, &

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