Dissemination and Implementation Science: Parenting Education Website to Prevent Substance Use Among Latine Families with Adolescents

This abstract was presented at the 2018 Society for Prevention Research Annual Meeting which was held May 29 – June 1, 2018 in Washington, DC, US.

Diego Garcia-Huidobro Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

Luis OrtegaUniversity of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Roberto Palma Hennepin County Medical Center; Maria Diaspro-Higuera University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Jennifer L. Doty University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Veronica Svetaz HCMC; Michele Allen University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Introduction: Parenting education is an effective strategy to prevent substance use among families with adolescents. Low engagement, especially among fathers, are challenges for parent education programs. An online portal with short videos covering the content of the PI/JP program was designed to reach participants who were not able or did not want to attend group sessions, especially fathers. The aims of this session are to showcase the website and present the preliminary evaluation of the portal. 

Methods: The presentation will with showcase the online portals enabling participants to have a “hands-on” experience after this portal has been explored. Then, the results of a pilot trial using the website will be presented. In the evaluation participated 15 Latine families with children aged 10-14 years old. A total of 38 participants from 15 families (15 mothers, 6 fathers, 2 father-figures, and 15 youth) enrolled in the parenting program that offered group sessions in addition to a one-to-one component that included the website and phone calls. Parents were mostly from Mexico (61%), married or cohabitating (70%), had completed high school (78%), and were employed (87%). On average, they had 37.3 years, with 14.1 years living in the United States. There were 7 boys (47%) and 8 girls (53%). Website use data was collected. Participant interviews were used to evaluate website satisfaction. 

Results: Forty-one sessions were delivered through the one-to-one component. Twenty-three of these sessions used the online portal (56%). Most parents who did not attend at least one group session (n=18), used the website to receive the intervention (n=10, 56%). Fathers had higher used of the portal than mothers (p= 0.038). Participants who used the website perceived that the portal was easy to navigate, well structured, and provided useful parenting information. Negative opinions with the site were that not all participants were able to access the material and that videos were brief.

Conclusions: An online portal helps expanding the reach of community-based parenting education among Latine families with adolescents. Internet access is still a challenge that limits the online delivery of parenting interventions in this population. Mobile apps might contribute towards the delivery of interventions among Latine families.