Designing and Implementing Parenting Interventions With Latino Immigrant Families: Challenges and Strategies

Abstract

Parenting interventions have shown to be effective in improving parenting behaviors quality, reducing child behavior problems, and increasing overall family well-being. However, the majority of research on the effectiveness of parenting interventions has been conducted with a focus on White and Western populations. As a result, intervention designs and guidelines often fail to address the unique characteristics and experiences of Latino immigrant families, which in turn are likely to impact the implementation and effectiveness of parenting interventions. The current article identifies challenges and discusses strategies that we have found to be effective with respect to our experience implementing a parenting intervention with low-income Latino immigrant mothers in the United States. These include (a) language barriers, (b) recruitment of families, (c) retention of families, (d) building trust and community, and (e) integrating culture into parenting interventions.