What Motivates Participation and Dropout Among Low‐Income Urban Families of Color in a Prevention Intervention?*

Low‐income urban parents of color enrolled in a parent training study were interviewed to understand what motivated their participation and what led 30% of them to subsequently drop out. Most enrolled because they wanted to be better parents. Most dropped out because of time and schedule constraints. Retention was higher when parents' motivations for participation matched program goals. Program location and qualities of the recruiter were cited most often as important; financial compensation was cited least often as important.     

The human gut microbiome and health inequities

Individuals who are minoritized as a result of race, sexual identity, gender, or socioeconomic status experience a higher prevalence of many diseases. Understanding the biological processes that cause and maintain these socially driven health inequities is essential for addressing them. The gut microbiome is strongly shaped by host environments and affects host metabolic, immune, and neuroendocrine functions, making it an important pathway by which differences in experiences caused by social, political, and economic forces could contribute to health inequities. Nevertheless, few studies have directly integrated the gut microbiome into investigations of health inequities. Here, we argue that accounting for host–gut microbe interactions will improve understanding and management of health inequities, and that health policy must begin to consider the microbiome as an important pathway linking environments to population health.     

Fatherhood intervention development in collaboration with African American non-resident fathers

Because interventions developed in partnership with African American fathers not residing with their children are virtually non‐existent, existing interventions fail to address the multiple factors that constrain these fathers' positive involvement with their children. We developed a videotape fatherhood intervention: Building Bridges to Fatherhood. In collaboration with a Fathers Advisory Council composed of 12 African American fathers, we used Aranda's framework for community‐based nursing intervention development to design the intervention. Data from 13 focus group meetings show Advisory Council members' insights on program structure and content, fathers' commitment to their children and communities, and the benefits they garnered from Council participation. The implications for involving fathers in intervention development include using relevant language, vernacular, and interpersonal interactions. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 35:490–506, 2012     

A tripartite model for recruiting African‐Americans into fatherhood intervention research

Many studies have examined factors influencing African‐American (AA) participation in research studies. But none inform the recruitment of AA men into fatherhood intervention research. Our purpose is to describe the recruitment and enrollment framework of the Dedicated African American Dad (DAAD) Study, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to test a fatherhood intervention against a financial literacy comparison condition. AA nonresident (AANR) fathers are fathers who do not reside with their child on a full‐time basis. Fathers attended 10 group‐based sessions; and father and mother informants completed research interviews at baseline, postintervention, and 12 weeks postintervention. The DAAD Study tripartite model is a system of strategies that address three factors that individually and cooperatively affect recruitment of AANR fathers into research: community partnerships; study infrastructure; and recruitment personnel. The intersection of these three components forms a recruitment nexus that can be used to guide community‐based research. The DAAD study serves as an exemplar of recruitment challenges, strategies, and lessons learned.     

Cost-Effectiveness of Childcare Discounts on Parent Participation in Preventive Parent Training in Low-Income Communities

We tested the cost-effectiveness of giving low-income parents childcare discounts contingent on their participation in the Chicago Parent Program, a 12-session preventive parent training (PT) program offered at their child's daycare center. Eight centers were matched and randomized to an experimental condition in which parents received a discount on their childcare bill (M?=?$8.92 per session attended) or a control group with no financial incentive. Participants (n?=?174) consisted mostly of African American (55%) or Latino (42%) mothers, 62% reporting annual household incomes less than $20,000. Parents in the discount condition were 15.4% more likely to enroll than control parents, though this difference was not significant. There were no differences in PT attendance, parents' motivations for enrolling, or the degree to which parents were actively engaged in PT sessions by condition. Despite the added cost of the discounts, there was no difference in group costs by condition. Parent interviews revealed important challenges in implementing financial incentive programs in community-based agencies serving low-income families. Cost simulations show how low parent enrollment or low attendance negatively affect the economic efficiency of group-based PT. Implications for policies guiding financial incentive programs targeting low-income families and their participation in prevention programs are discussed.     

Measuring participation in a prevention trial with parents of young children

This paper describes parent participation in a clinical trial of preventive parent training (PT) targeting low-income parents of young children. Participation encompassed enrollment, attendance, and engagement. Average enrollment rate was 34.9%, although enrollment rates were significantly higher in the control (39.1%) than in the intervention (30.6%) centers. Parents attended an average of 39% of the PT sessions. Higher attendance was associated with lower parenting self-efficacy, more parent-reported child behavior problems, and attending the first PT session. Level of engagement in the PT sessions was related to improvements in parent and child outcomes. Findings suggest that attendance is linked to parent perceived need for help and that resources should be focused on ensuring parent attendance at the first intervention session.     

Behavior problems in young children: an analysis of cross-informant agreements and disagreements

This study examined (a) convergence between parents' and day care teachers' ratings of children's behavior problems, and (b) whether agreements and disagreements were associated with characteristics of the informant, context, or measures. Parents of 241, 2-4-year old children in day care centers serving low-income families completed measures of child behavior problems, parenting style, stress, depression, and self-efficacy. Teachers completed a measure of classroom behavior problems. There was a low correlation between parents' and teachers' ratings of child behavior (r=.17), and few children (2.5%) received high behavior problem scores from both parents and teachers. Cross-informant agreement on high behavior problem children was related to characteristics of the informants and home context. Implications for identifying children at risk are discussed.     

Recruiting families of color from the inner city: insights from the recruiters

Family interviewers hired to recruit families of color from low-income communities into a health promotion/prevention research project participated in a focus group to describe their experiences. The family interviewers described (1) recruitment techniques, (2) personal attributes they thought made a difference in their recruitment and retention efforts, (3) barriers they faced during recruitment, and (4) the experience of working for a white researcher.     

A group think tank as a discourse coalition to promote minority nursing faculty retention

BackgroundThe nursing profession will need one million more nurses by 2024, yet nursing schools are turning away applicants due to insufficient numbers of nursing faculty. Likewise, minority nursing faculty are needed in order to attract diverse nursing students who can then address health care disparities.PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the use of a group think tank (GTT) as a mentoring strategy for supporting the recruitment and retention of minority nursing faculty.MethodGuided by Kotter's theory of change, this paper describes the application of the GTT approach with 5 African American (AA) faculty, one AA doctoral student and a cross-cultural mentor.FindingsResults are presented based upon the metrics typically used to support career advancement, promotion and/or tenure.DiscussionThe GTT is a promising mentoring model that can be used to integrate cross-cultural and peer mentoring into academic communities to support diversity in academia.