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Parental Engagement and Barriers to Participation in a Community‐Based Preventive Intervention
Author(s) -
Mendez Julia L.,
Carpenter Johanna L.,
LaForett Doré R.,
Cohen Jeremy S.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/s10464-009-9252-x
Subject(s) - health psychology , attendance , intervention (counseling) , psychological intervention , ethnic group , mental health , psychology , public health , clinical psychology , medicine , gerontology , psychiatry , nursing , sociology , anthropology , economics , economic growth
Abstract This study examined parent characteristics and barriers to participation in a community‐based preventive intervention with a sample of 201 parents from low‐income and predominantly ethnic minority backgrounds. Person‐centered analyses revealed five subgroups of parents who demonstrated variability in their parent characteristics, which included psychological resources and level of parental involvement in education. Group membership was associated with differences in school involvement and use of the psychoeducational intervention at home, after accounting for the number of barriers to engagement. For the intervention attendance variable, greater number of barriers was associated with decreased attendance only for parents in the resilient subgroup and the psychologically distressed subgroup. Attendance remained constant across levels of barriers for the other three subgroups of parents. The results of the study inform theory and practice regarding how to tailor preventive interventions to accommodate subgroups of parents within populations that experience barriers to accessing mental health services.