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Successful approaches to engage parents in programs to prevent teen pregnancy
Successful approaches to engage parents in programs to prevent teen pregnancy
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- OPA brief
- Contributor(s):
- United States. Department of Health and Human Services, issuing body.
United States. Public Health Service. Office of Population Affairs, issuing body. - Publication:
- [Washington, D.C.] : Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Population Affairs, August 2020
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Parents
Pregnancy in Adolescence -- prevention & control
Community Participation
United States - Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Teen pregnancy prevention programs are increasingly working to engage parents. Office of Population Affairs (OPA) Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) grantees want to involve parents in their programs because it could improve outcomes for youth. For example, when parents communicate with their children about sexuality, it can help delay the age of sexual initiation in youth and and decrease the number of sexual partners (Child Trends What Works 2011; Harris et al. 2013; Niego et al. 2008; National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy 2012; Commendador 2010; Yang et al. 2007). It can sometimes be a challenge to get parents involved in programming, but many programs have identified strategies to overcome the challenges. This brief explores the strategies OPA TPP grantees used to successfully engage parents in their programming. Parent engagement varies widely across the different programs implemented by grantees. For example, some use parent-focused curricula, such as Families Talking Together, which teaches parents effective communication skills and parental monitoring strategies. Other programs use youth-focused curricula that include a parent component, such as Get Real, which includes take-home family activities with each lesson to promote communication between youth and their families on sexual health. Parent-focused programming is implemented in a range of settings such as schools, community-based settings, and in the home. The curricula are usually delivered either one-on-one, in dyads with parents and youth, or in small groups. OPA conducted a targeted literature review that revealed the primary barriers to parent engagement. Those barriers can be placed in three categories (Smokowski et al. 2018): (1) Interpersonal barriers arise when parents do not have a level of trust and comfort with the facilitators or organization providing programming. Lack of trust can discourage parents from participating. This phenomenon is especially pronounced in populations of color, who may mistrust program providers as a consequence of historical discrimination or providers' misunderstanding of their cultural context (Finigan-Carr et al. 2014; Flores et al. 2015; Pinto et al. 2012). (2) Attitudinal barriers are beliefs and perceptions about program services, such as parents not believing sexual health education is relevant or important for their family, that keep people from seeking the services (Silk and Romero 2014; Serrano et al. 2018). These attitudes can be influenced by generational and cultural differences on what constitutes healthy and normal adolescent sexual behavior and what information should be shared with youth (Serrano et al. 2018). Parents may also be worried about the appropriate ages to discuss sexual health with youth, or whether these discussions will encourage risky sexual behavior (Krauss and Miller 2012; Marques and Ressa 2013). (3) Structural barriers are resource constraints that prevent parents from attending programming, such as a lack of transportation or child care, or scheduling conflicts (Reidy et al. 2012; CDC 2012; Finigan-Carr 2014). Some studies also cite language or cultural barriers that keep parents from participating in programming (CDC 2012; Flores et al. 2015). Even if programs identify these barriers, they might not have the financial resources to help participants overcome them--a barrier unto itself (CDC 2012). The literature review revealed several barriers, but few Table 1. Grantee characteristics solutions to overcome them. To supplement the findings of the review and identify field-based solutions, nine TPP grantees were interviewed who involved parents in programming, now or in the past. The nine grantees were purposefully selected and represent a variety of grant objectives, target populations, programmatic settings, geographic regions, and program types (see Figure 1 and Table 1). The in-depth interviews focused on identifying strategies grantees have used to successfully engage parents in programming. Findings from these interviews are discussed next.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (8 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101777805 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101777805