Measuring and Enhancing Initial Parent Engagement: An Experiment and Psychometric Analysis (Preprint)

Abstract

Prevention efforts focused on parenting can prevent and reduce rates of child internalizing and externalizing problems, and positive changes to parenting skills have been shown to mediate improvements in child behavior problems. However, parent skills training programs remain underutilized, with estimates that under half of eligible parents complete treatment, and even lower rates engage in preventive interventions. Moreover, there is no validated measure to assess initial engagement in parent education/skills training, an understudied stage of parent engagement.

We aimed to test a novel engagement strategy, exploring whether including neuroscience information pertaining to the neuroscience of child development and parent skills training enhanced parental intent-to-enroll. In addition, a novel self-report measure, the 18-item Parenting Resources Acceptability Measure (PRAM), was developed and validated.

In a group of 166 parents of children aged 5-12, using an engagement strategy based on the Seductive Allure of Neuroscience Explanations, we conducted an online experiment to assess whether the inclusion of neuroscience information related to higher levels of engagement via self-report and behavioral measures. The PRAM was subjected to an exploratory factor analysis and examined against relevant validity measures and acceptability measurement criteria.

Three PRAM factors emerged (“General Acceptability of Parenting Resources”, “Interest in Learning New Parenting Strategies”, and “Acceptability of Parenting Websites”), which explained 68.4% of the total variance; internal consistency among the factors and the total score ranged from good to excellent; and the PRAM was correlated with other relevant measures (Parental Locus of Control, Parental Sense of Competence, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Parent Engagement in Evidence-Based Services, behavioral outcomes) and demonstrated good criterion validity, in addition to responsiveness. Regarding the engagement intervention, parents who did not receive the neuroscience explanation self-reported lower interest in learning new parenting skills after watching an informational video compared with parents who did receive a neuroscience explanation. However, there were no significant differences between conditions in behavioral measures of intent-to-enroll, including number of mouse clicks, amount of time spent on a page of parenting resources, and requests to receive parenting resources. Effects did not persist at one-month follow-up, suggesting effects on engagement may be time-limited.

Findings add preliminary evidence for the utility of theory-driven strategies to enhance parental initial engagement in parent skills training, specifically parental interest in learning new parenting skills. Additionally, study findings demonstrate good initial psychometric properties of the PRAM, a tool to assess parental intent-to-enroll, an early stage of engagement.