Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work

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The Mommy and Me Play Program: A Pilot Play Intervention for Low-Income, African American Preschool Families Linnie Green Wright To cite this article: Linnie Green Wright (2015) The Mommy and Me Play Program: A Pilot Play Intervention for Low-Income, African American Preschool Families, Journal of EvidenceInformed Social Work, 12:4, 349-368, DOI: 10.1080/15433714.2013.849216 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15433714.2013.849216

Published online: 06 Mar 2015.

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Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work, 12:349–368, 2015 Copyright q Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 2376-1407 print/2376-1415 online DOI: 10.1080/15433714.2013.849216

The Mommy and Me Play Program: A Pilot Play Intervention for Low-Income, African American Preschool Families Downloaded by [University of Nebraska, Lincoln] at 20:19 05 November 2015

Linnie Green Wright Graduate School of Social Work, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA

In this study the author examined the effects of a dyadic, mother-paired play intervention—The Mommy and Me Play Program—an innovative intervention program designed using a live-action modeling technique in which mothers serve as “natural helpers” to each other. By identifying natural strengths in mothers and employing opportunities for scaffolded learning, this intervention aimed to enhance mother – child play interactions and children’s social and emotional competence. Fifty mother – child dyads from a single, low-income, African American, urban community were assessed in this study on measures of mother –child play interactions and children’s social and emotional competency. Results from this pilot were not statistically significant, but provide important information regarding future research with this intervention program. These preliminary findings indicated that mothers with fewer play skills pre-intervention demonstrated improvement in their play skills post-intervention beyond other intervention participants; and children of those same mothers showed the greatest decrease in angry and aggressive behaviors in the classroom when compared to other participating children from pre- to post-intervention. Implications for research and practice in community-based, intervention work with low-income, ethnic-minority families are discussed. Keywords: Early childhood, play intervention, Head Start, African American families

INTRODUCTION The preschool years are a time for extraordinary growth and development, and the skills acquired by children during this developmental period continue to influence their school success as they age (Alexander & Entwisle, 1988; Institute of Medicine, 2000; McWayne, Green, & Fantuzzo, 2009). For young children living in low-income communities, there are multiple environmental risks that threaten their success during this critical transition to school (Crosnoe, Leventhal, Wirth, Pierce, & Pianta, 2010). Ethnic-minority families are disproportionately more likely to live in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, which tend to be accompanied by reduced access to resources, exposure to danger, and increased parenting stress (Franco, Pottick, & Huang, 2010). As a result of this environmental stress experienced by families in low-income communities, ethnic-minority children are more often faced with mounting challenges from the early stages of their development. In 1965, Head Start began as a federally funded preschool program, which aimed to promote children’s school readiness in an effort to break the cycle of poverty. Over time, Head Start has evolved into a comprehensive, two-generational program for young children age three to five and This research was conducted by the author while affiliated with New York University. Address correspondence to Linnie Green Wright, Boston College Graduate School of Social Work, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, McGuinn Hall, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

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their families through preschool education with a focus on both social competency development and academic readiness. As a program with a two-generational mission, Head Start centers also involve families as essential partners in children’s education and development, and include caregivers in program operations, governance, and evaluation. Many Head Start programs also offer services for families in adult education and job training. To date, Head Start has served over 23 million children, aged 3 – 5 years, and their families nationwide. Since the program’s inception, research has been conducted nationally and locally to determine its effectiveness. Due to varied research goals, samples, and methodologies, the findings have also varied greatly. However, the first national, randomized, longitudinal study of the effectiveness of Head Start found improvements in children’s cognitive and social and emotional functioning, as well as parenting practices. These findings provide promise for the effectiveness of Head Start programs in supporting the development of young children through comprehensive programs that includes parents as educational partners (McWayne, Green, Cheung, 2010; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001). Social and emotional competencies, defined as the ability of a child to identify their own and other’s emotions, and engage in positive relationships with family, peers, and others (such as teachers), are essential in helping children meet diverse developmental challenges across multiple contexts (e.g., home and school: Fantuzzo & McWayne, 2002; Raver, 2002; Raver & Zigler, 1997; Saarni, 1990). Given the overexposure of low-income, minority children to risks and challenges in early childhood, protective factors—like social and emotional competence and positive interactions with parents—have been linked to later positive school outcomes (Tamis-LeMonda, Briggs, McClowry & Snow, 2009). Since these early experiences have shown to be predictive of later outcomes (McWayne, Green, & Fantuzzo, 2009), it is essential to identify and promote programming that supports and reinforces protective factors for young children and their families during this developmental period. In general, Head Start aims to support the social and emotional competency of young children and promote positive parenting practices (McWayne et al, 2010). Thus, specific evidence-based interventions that target these outcomes are a natural fit for programs like Head Start. During the preschool years, when play is essential to children’s learning experience, social and emotional competence is developed during interactions with peers and adults that require skills like emotional regulation, language interaction, and social exchange (Denham et al., 2012; Mendez, McDermott, & Fantuzzo, 2002) This skills set has also been shown to impact children’s academic and social success as they transition to elementary school (McWayne, Green, & Fantuzzo, 2009). Raver and Knitzer (2002) demonstrated that preschool aged children’s social and emotional competencies predict academic success in the first grade, over and above cognitive skills and family factors, which emphasizes the impact that these skills can have on multiple aspects of development. Given that during the early childhood years various domains of development (relating to both academic and social skills) overlap and interact with one another (Campbell, 2002; Hirsch-Pasek, Kochanoff, Newcombe, & de Villiers, 2005), it is important to focus on fostering all children’s social and emotional skills as a means to enhance whole-child development. Considering Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998), the parent – child relationship has been identified as a primary influence on children’s development. Proximal processes, the most enduring forms of interaction in the child’s immediate environment, are considered the primary engine for child development. One example of a proximal process is the relationship between a parent and child. It is through proximal processes that children’s developmental skills are influenced by the quality and frequency of interactions with their mothers. Interventions that focus on mother –child interactions during play have been shown to improve the quality of mother – child relationships and support positive child development across developmental domains (Mahoney, Boyce, Fewell, Spiker, & Wheeden, 1998). Specific maternal interaction styles, such as responsiveness to children’s needs, have been shown to have a positive impact on children’s functioning (Belsky & Fearon, 2002;

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Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2009). A primary developmental context for young children is play and previous research has demonstrated that interventions focusing on mother – child interactions during play have been shown to improve the quality of mother – child relationships and support positive child development across developmental domains (Mahoney et al., 1998; TamisLeMonda, Shannon, Cabrera, & Lamb, 2004). During play interactions, mothers help children to practice skills central to the development of social and emotional competence, which can have a lasting impact on outcomes for children (Ladd, Birch, & Buhs, 1999; Raver, 2002). Ethnic-minority parents residing in low-income, urban environments socialize their children to thrive in communities, which are vastly different than middle-income, Caucasian families residing in non-urban communities (who are often considered the standard for parenting practices and beliefs: McWayne, Owsianik, Green & Fantuzzo, 2008). Low-income, African American neighborhoods are often inundated with high-risk environmental conditions (a lack of community services, adequate housing, and increased family stress), which can influence the experience of parents, how they cope with these stressors, and how they interact with their children (Spencer, 2001). Previous research has also identified community institutions, such as schools, as an important source of parental support in low-income, ethnic minority neighborhoods (Jarrett, 1995). As a result, it is essential to design evidence-based programming grounded within communities, to meet the specific needs of the families being served, and not simply to attempt to replicate interventions from one population to another, which may have different needs, practices, and beliefs. Despite the conflicting findings that have been reported in the literature, recent research findings from a sample of low-income, African American Head Start mothers found that the mothers endorsed the value of play in their interactions with their children and in their child’s development because they had been exposed to a child-centered educational approach in their Head Start programs (Fogle & Mendez, 2006). Thus, Head Start can be an ideal context for employing intervention programs that emphasize positive parent –child interactions within African American families through play activities. Further research has highlighted African American parents’ interest in participating in programming related to their children’s preschool education (Mendez, 2010). However, the specific programming components and practices must be closely tied to the context in which the families reside to ensure culturally-validity (Sue, 2006). Previous research has touted peer modeling as a valuable intervention tool for both children and adults (Canning & Fantuzzo, 2000). Based on Vygotsky’s (1978) zone of proximal development, when children are paired with a more experienced play partner, their own developmental skills will be enhanced through scaffolding. Successful outcomes have been documented in a randomized field trial by Fantuzzo, Sutton-Smith, Atkins, and Meyers (1996), who demonstrated the effectiveness of this phenomenon in Head Start classrooms. Furthermore, the literature on adult learning purports that utilizing a “peers as models” approach with adults can be effective for intervention (Hartup & Lougee, 1975). This peer modeling intervention approach is particularly significant within the context of identifying and implementing culturally-valid parent education practices within low-income, ethnic minority communities (Canning & Fantuzzo, 2000). When members of the same community are recognized and utilized as natural teachers and models for one another, the intervention content inherently contains a level of cultural relevance that would not be possible in another format (e.g., outside expert maintaining the sole teaching and modeling roles). Consequently, positive modeling by parents, particularly those of similar backgrounds, has been shown to have a positive impact on outcomes for children and parents. The current intervention, The Mommy and Me Play Program, extended existing models of parenting education approaches by integrating empirically-supported methods with a two-fold application of Vygotsky’s (1978) zone of proximal development: (a) enhancing both mothers’ play skills through interactions with other mothers, and (b) promoting children’s social and emotional competence through enhancing interactions with their mothers. As a result, not only were mothers

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able to serve as positive models to their peers, but they were also able to aid in the development of their children’s skills. Although the extant research supports the notion that play between children and their parents is an experience that has a universal positive impact on those involved (Singer & Singer, 1990), many interventions featuring play between parents and children focus on special needs populations (Bates, 2005), or other clinically-based populations (LeBlanc & Ritchie, 1999). However, there is a need for interventions with cultural-validity and generalizability to other populations and in community-based, naturalistic settings, like Head Start. Despite gaps in the literature on parent – child play interventions, several intervention programs have demonstrated indications of success with low-income, ethnic-minority families (Mahoney et al., 1998; Reid, Webster-Stratton, & Beauchaine, 2001; Wagner, Spiker, & Linn, 2002). They share specific intervention components that likely aided in their success with families, such as implementing the intervention in a community-based setting, creating opportunities for non-hierarchical parent group discussions, and utilizing play as a natural context for intervention. However, these interventions also demonstrated several limitations (e.g., utilizing non-community members as facilitators, employing outsiders as “experts,” and failing to utilize the natural skills and strengths of parent participants by using videotaped positive models of play) that are sought to be addressed in the design and implementation of the current study of The Mommy and Me Play Program (MMPP). The MMPP frames parents’ involvement with a strengths-based approach, which has been identified in the literature as an intervention “best practice” for connecting with low-income, minority communities (Snell-Johns, Mendez, & Smith, 2004). All too often, with typically marginalized groups like low-income, African American families, intervention participants are portrayed from a deficit perspective, highlighting negative behaviors and utilizing experts as teachers from outside of the target community As a result, there is little to no focus on normative African American family functioning (Hill, 1995). When emphasizing parents’ strengths and their ability to develop positive skills through learning from members of their own community, parents are empowered to improve their own skills and assist their children in acquiring positive skills, as well. In this study the author aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) Does the MMPP enhance the quality of mothers’ interactions with their children during play? It is hypothesized that mothers participating in the MMPP will experience improved play skills. In addition, mothers who are designated as less skilled pre-intervention (Helpees) will experience the greatest gains. (2) Does the MMPP enhance children’s social and emotional competence? It is hypothesized that children participating in the MMPP will show improved social and emotional competence. Furthermore, children of the Helpees in the intervention will experience greater gains in social and emotional competence than children of Helpers (mothers with greater pre-intervention skills). The MMPP was implemented using a randomized design, ensuring that intervention outcomes can be causally attributed to participation in the intervention program. Head Start staff served as the primary facilitators of the intervention program specifically because of their shared cultural and community connections to the participating parents. The MMPP reinforced the value of all parents’ ability to be experts through a non-hierarchical design, which empowered them to not only learn from each other, but to also see themselves as valuable teachers. Finally, the MMPP sought to improve on the use of videos as teaching tools by providing a context for parents to learn from each other through modeling in vivo during dyadic play sessions with their children and their partners (another mother –child dyad). During these play sessions, the dyads modeled play interactions with their children, allowing for an exchange of positive play skills. By modeling in real-time, parents were afforded the opportunity to practice instantaneously with their partners, ask questions, and get

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feedback from another participant or staff facilitator, instead of a facilitator identified as a trained expert from an outside community. This method applies practices from filial therapy, an effective parent – child play therapeutic modality facilitated by a trained clinician in clinical settings (Garza & Watts, 2010). However, in this non-clinical setting (a Head Start program), the role of expert can be assumed by the parents and staff members (who often share the same community and cultural backgrounds), and not an outside clinician. In this non-clinical framework, the MMPP is accessible to a larger population of families, and not simply those seeking support from a mental health professional. Consequently, this live-action, peer-supported modeling approach is an innovative intervention design feature that engages parents as experts, models, and learners in a familyfocused, culturally-relevant, and community-based program.

METHOD Participants and Settings Head Start Settings All parent participants were from two Head Start programs in a single, northeastern, urban community of predominantly low-income, Black families. Participants were recruited from a group of approximately 300 families from 23 Head Start classrooms within seven Head Start sites from two Head Start programs within this homogenous community. As per Head Start Program Performance Standards, each classroom of 15– 19 children was led by at least two classroom teachers (some classrooms had an additional adult volunteer) and no more than 20 students enrolled at one time. These two programs served over 600 low-income children and families annually from the same community district recognized by the local Department of City Planning. Population demographics from both Head Start programs reveal similar racial/ethnic composition and family income levels, which was also representative of the larger community district demographic constellation. Greater than 90% of all children and families served by the two programs are identified as Black or African American. The racial and ethnic backgrounds of the school staff in each program were reflective of the community of families. Parent – Child Dyads Fifty parent-child dyads from two Head Start programs in a single, urban community of predominantly low-income, African American families participated in this study. The majority of families in this sample self-identified racially as African American (greater than 95%). Since the participants were all female primary caregivers, parent – child dyads will hereby be referred to as mother –child dyads. The mean age of participating parents was 33.1 years (SD ¼ 7.25), and the mean age of participating children was 4.3 years (SD ¼ 0.58). Of all participating children, 40% were boys and 60% were girls. Forty-six percent of participating parents were single, 26% were married, and the remaining 28% self-identified as widowed, divorced, or separated. Eighty-two percent of participating parents were mothers, 10% were foster mothers or grandmothers, with the remaining 8% of participants identifying as aunts or other female caregivers. The mean number of other children living in the home was 1.83 (SD ¼ 1.37), with the majority of families including one or two other children living in the home (63%). One-way between groups analysis of variance and chi-square test for independence indicated that there were no significant differences between the four comparison groups of parents and children participating in this study on individual or family characteristics. See Table 1 for further details regarding the demographic descriptions of the participant groups.

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L. G. WRIGHT TABLE 1 Demographic Comparisons (N ¼ 50)

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Intervention (n ¼ 24)

Discussion (n ¼ 26)

Helpers

Helpees

Helpers

Helpees

Parent Variables Age (years) Ethnicity (% AA) Marital Status Single Married Mother of Child Other Children

32.97 100%

33.20 82%

34.62 95%

28.33 100%

73% 9% 73% 1.55

64% 27% 91% 1.40

50% 45% 95% 1.63

75% 13% 88% 1.50

Child Variables Age (in years) Gender (% Girls)

4.23 55%

4.38 73%

4.42 55%

4.36 50%

Staff Facilitators Five out of a total of 11 members of the family service staff (liaisons between the families and the program) at the participating Head Start sites volunteered to serve as staff facilitators prior to the implementation of the intervention. Group Leaders co-led didactic sessions for participants with the researcher (also a member of both the geographic and ethnic community), presenting factual content and facilitating the group discussion. The Play Supporters facilitated the play groups, providing positive feedback, encouragement, and guidance for parents. Discussion Facilitators assisted with the group discussions for the parent discussion group, encouraging a continuous dialogue. All participating staff members were identified as African American and were members of the same community being served by their Head Start programs. Their years of experience as family service staff in Head Start ranged from three to 25 years, with four of the five staff serving over 10 years in their positions.

The MMPP The MMPP, which aims to support preschool children’s social and emotional competency through positive play interactions with their mothers is an innovative intervention program that utilized a live-action modeling format where parents of varying play skill levels (Helpers and Helpees) are partnered together along with their Head Start children in dyadic pairs for scaffolded play groups. This model is grounded in the understanding that “natural helpers” can be effective models in intervention programs. The MMPP was described to parent participants as a program that focused on the importance of engaging parents in their young children’s early play experiences to support their development and readiness for kindergarten. Facilitators would present factual content on child development and the importance of play during the preschool years. However, the emphasis of the program would be on the skills and strengths that the mothers had to share with each other, both during group discussions and paired play sessions with their children. Despite the Helper/Helpee grouping model that was employed, parent participants were not told of their role designation at any point during the intervention, so as not to introduce a system of hierarchy. Instead, each participant was told that they were paired with their participant because they each had different skills and could learn from time spent during play with the other mother.

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Prior to the recruitment and pre-intervention data collection, the participating Head Start sites were randomly assigned to two participant groups1—intervention (those that participated in the MMPP) and parent discussion group (implemented to control for the effects of social support). This cluster randomized design was employed to maintain rigor in the intervention while adhering to the logistical needs of the participants and staff facilitators (e.g., staff and participants needed to be assigned to roles and partners at their home Head Start site). Two sites were assigned to the two treatment conditions, resulting in four sites. The procedures for this intervention study involved four stages. First, information on children’s social –emotional skills, and mother – child interactions during play was collected by trained research assistants pre-intervention. Concurrent with the pre-test data collection phase, staff members were trained for their roles as facilitators. Second, participants in the intervention and parent discussion groups then engaged in two didactic sessions, which focused on topics of early childhood developmental milestones and the importance of play. Both groups were structured as a 20 minute presentation by the Group Leader and then a 40 minute group discussion among the parent participants facilitated by the same Group Leader. The didactic groups allowed parents to be presented with factual content and to have non-hierarchical group discussions with other participants about parenting practices that they could implement in their own families. Third, simultaneous to the didactic sessions, two independent coders (who had a pre-established inter-coder agreement of at least 90%), coded all videotaped pre-intervention mother –child play sessions. The coders were blind to participant group designation during pre-intervention coding and blind to both participant group and skill-level designation (Helpers/Helpees) post-intervention. An average score was calculated for each parent participant by the lead researcher, who was excluded from coding. The median average score of 3.25 was then used as the cut-off for distinguishing between the more skilled mothers (Helpers) who scored above the median of 3.25 and less skilled mothers (Helpees) who scored below the median of 3.25. To identify the play partner dyads from each of the designated roles, this median split method was further applied to match intervention group parents of varying skill level. In the intervention group, mothers identified as Helpers who had the highest average scores (above the median) of all the Helpers in their group were paired with mothers identified as Helpees who received the highest average score (below the median) compared to other Helpees in their group. Conversely, lower scoring Helpers (below the median) were paired with lower scoring Helpees (below the median). By using the median split method to pair Helpers and Helpees together in the intervention group, the dyadic, Helper/Helpee pairs had a relatively equal distribution of pre-intervention play skills because there were consistent interval standards between each Helper/Helpee pair. Using the median split method was a direct way to compare groups measured using a continuous variable and is a commonly used practice in intervention research (MacCallum, Zhang, Preacher, & Rucker, 2002; Spence, Helmriech, & Stapp, 1975). Although Helpers and Helpees were identified in the discussion group as well, they were not paired together for any intervention activities and simply used for comparison purposes with the intervention group. After all participants were designated as Helpers or Helpees, the intervention was implemented. All Helper/Helpee dyads in the intervention group received the MMPP, which consisted of liveaction modeling during mother –child dyadic, paired play groups. Over the course of eight weeks, Helper/Helpee dyads (consisting of both mothers and their Head Start children) engaged in weekly, 30-minute play sessions in their Head Start centers during the school day. For each MMPP play group, each child brought a toy from their classroom (ranging from table toys to books). The parent participants were given simple instructions, “Help your children play together and see what you can learn from watching and playing with each other.” During these play groups, Play Supporters (staff facilitators of the play groups) did not provide ongoing guidance to the groups, but would point out positive play behaviors (“Look how well you all are sharing and taking turns!”) and suggestions to aid in the interactions when needed (“Looks like you all might be ready to move on to the next toy.

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Why don’t you all try that one?”). Since the emphasis of the MMPP was on supporting positive play behaviors in parents, rather than teaching children specific skills through intervention content, the goal was for parents with naturally occurring positive play skills (e.g., responsiveness, inventiveness, and support of child-directed play) to model and reinforce those same skills for their partner through the dyadic paired play activities with their children using familiar toys from the child’s classroom. At the end of the 30-minute play session, parents then engaged in a 15-minute feedback session with one another, discussing what they thought went well in the group, what they learned from one another, and what they would like to do more/less of next time. Play Supporters also helped facilitate this discussion among parents as needed (“What do you think went well? What did you learn from watching each other and your children?”). Mothers were not aware of their Helper/Helpee designations during their participation. Simultaneous to the intervention play groups, participating mothers in the Parent Discussion Group also engaged in eight weekly discussion groups for parents. These parent discussion groups were equal in length to the play groups (45 minutes total), and were designed to allow mothers to continue to discuss the various parenting topics from the Didactic Sessions. However, Discussion Facilitators (staff facilitators on these groups) did not provide additional didactic information for parents and did not review didactic content from previous sessions. Instead, their roles were to simply help facilitate the discussion topics that parents initiated. In addition, parents in the Discussion Group were not given opportunities to practice new play skills with their children during these groups. Lastly, all participants from the two participant groups were sought out for post-intervention data collection (identical to pre-intervention data collection procedures) within one month after the completion of the intervention. Returning mother– child dyads completed the 10-minute videotaped play session, and all classroom teachers completed the teacher-report measure for all participating children in their classrooms. In the year prior to the implementation of this study, an initial pilot study of the MMPP was conducted with a sample of 16 participant-dyads from the same Head Start community. In this pilot study the researchers aimed to assess the utility of assessment measures, the content of the intervention program, and the logistics of the implementation of the intervention structure. Further, feedback discussion sessions were conducted with initial pilot participants (including separate sessions with staff facilitators) on their experience participating in the program and what they gleaned from involvement in the intervention. The information gathered from this pilot was used to inform the current and larger pilot intervention study regarding outcome measures (e.g., a shorter teacher report measure was used for the subsequent pilot based on teacher feedback), didactic content (e.g., a greater emphasis was placed on incorporating play into everyday activities), and play sessions (e.g., play supporters emphasized positive feedback that provided more encouragement for parent participants to interact during play sessions). This initial pilot research also reinforced the cultural validity of the intervention and the community-based approach to the research. Measures Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation—Short Form (SCBE-30) The Social Competence Behavior Evaluation—Short Form (SCBE-30: LaFreniere & Dumas, 1996) is a shortened version of the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation—Preschool Edition (SCBE-80: LaFreniere & Dumas, 1995), which is a teacher-report measure used to assess social adjustment, emotion regulation and expression, and social competence in children aged 2– 6 years. The SCBE-80 has been tested for reliability with a sample of 1,263 urban preschool students (including Head Start) with an overrepresentation of African American preschoolers (20%) in

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comparison to the national population. The SCBE-30 was developed by the authors to serve as a shortened version of the original measure (reduced from 80 to 30 items), while maintaining the important characteristics of the measure. The characteristics preserved in this shortened form are the following three-factors: Social Competence, Externalizing Behaviors (termed AngerAggression in the SCBE-30), and Internalizing Behaviors (termed Anxiety-Withdrawal in the SCBE-30). The SCBE-30 is rated using a six-point Likert scale, with one rated as “never” and six rated as “always.” Internal consistency (0.80 to 0.92), and temporal stability (0.78 – 0.91) were also preserved for this shortened form. Inter-rater agreement levels ranged from .72 to .89. Construct validity between the SCBE-30 and the SCBE-80 was high (0.92 – 0.97), with extensive construct validation of the SCBE-80 conducted during the measure development. Both versions of this measure are intended for use to assess treatment effects in intervention studies as an outcome measure. Maternal Behavior Rating Scale The Maternal Behavior Rating Scale-Revised (MBRS; Mahoney, 1999) is a 12 domain observational tool developed to assess the effectiveness of intervention programs on mother –child interactions. Research supports using the scale with diverse populations, particularly low-income and ethnic minority groups (Mahoney et al., 1998). Three of the 12 domains were utilized in this intervention. The domains included are: Responsiveness, Warmth, and Directiveness. Each domain was rated on a five-point Likert scale, one being an absence of the domain behavior and five being a consistent presence of the domain behavior. These domains were found to be most reliable based on a previous study of mother –child interactions (McWayne & Green, 2005), with inter-rater agreement of 86.4%. MMPP coders, with a minimum interrater agreement of 90% on each domain, were blind to participant group designation during pre-intervention coding and blind to both participant group and skill-level designation (Helpers/Helpees) post-intervention. Fidelity Checklists Throughout the implementation of each phase of the intervention assessments were conducted to ensure intervention fidelity. A fidelity checklist was filled out by the researcher at the end of each didactic sessions, documenting the length of the session overall, the didactic content covered during the session, the length of the didactic presentation, practices for engaging parents in the group discussion, and the topics covered during those discussions. The Discussion Facilitator filled out a fidelity checklist at the end of 50% of the Parent Group Discussions, documenting the length of the session, the facilitator’s involvement in the group, and the topics covered during the group discussion. The Play Supporter and/or researcher also filled out a fidelity checklist for 50% of the intervention play groups, reporting on the length of the play groups, any feedback that the Play Supporter provided during the play group, any identified distractions during the group and how they were minimized, the mothers’ engagement with each other during the play group, and the length of the feedback session at the end of the play group.

RESEARCH DESIGN A cluster randomized design was utilized for this study as an alternative to using individual randomized assignment. Instead of randomly assigning mother – child dyads to one of the treatment conditions, the seven Head Start sites within these two large programs from the participating community district were randomly assigned to the three treatment conditions. Randomization was assigned by simple random allocation by a blind researcher. A cluster-randomized design was

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employed due to considerations of intervention feasibility, logistics, prevent of contamination, and participant engagement with a multi-site intervention program of this structure (Massetti, DuBois, Ji, Crean, & Johnson, 2009).

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Data Analysis Descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-tests, analysis of variance, and chi-square analyses were employed to analyze demographic and fidelity information. Comparisons of post-intervention outcomes between the treatment conditions and between the Helper and Helpee roles within each treatment condition were made using analyses of covariance (ANCOVA), with pre-intervention scores entered as covariates. This analysis model is comparable to other cluster randomized intervention studies (Massetti et al., 2009). At the significance level of .05, an N of 80 was deemed sufficient to provide adequate power (at a level of 0.80) to determine if the intervention has a medium effect size (0.5) on mother –child interactions. Seventy-six mother – child dyads were successfully recruited for this study. However, due to the contamination of a participant group (see footnote 1), results will only be reported on data from the intervention and parent discussion groups whom completed both pre- and post-data collection. Although the sample size has limited power to detect statistically significant findings on intervention outcomes, effect sizes of outcome relationships were calculated to determine the strength of intervention outcome findings, which is essential for readers to understand the practical significance of the researcher’s findings, particularly in intervention studies (American Psychological Association, 2009; Bates, 2005).

RESULTS Intervention Fidelity Fidelity results indicated that didactic sessions for the intervention and parent discussion groups, intervention play sessions, and parent discussion group sessions were implemented uniformly and adhered to the intervention implementation plans. All sessions (didactic, play, and discussion) were relatively equivalent in length, allowed comparable time for parent interaction, and involved the facilitator in comparable roles. Further, the didactic session parent conversations for the play and discussion groups covered similar themes (e.g., discipline strategies, incorporating play into everyday activities, co-parenting successes and challenges, and supporting friendships and sibling relationships) indicating that participants received similar content during both the facilitator led presentations and parent-driven conversations. Mother– Child Interactions Observations of mother –child play interactions using the three play dimensions from the MBRS revealed preliminary findings regarding group differences post-intervention. Although those differences were not statistically significant, when comparing pre- and post-intervention outcomes, an examination of the overall patterns gave further insight into the outcomes for these participant groups. Positive change scores for the intervention Helpees (0.60 and 0.22 for Responsivity and Warmth, respectively) demonstrated increases in ratings from pre- to post-intervention according to paired samples t-tests. The intervention group Helpers did not demonstrate positive change scores from pre- to post-intervention on these dimensions like the Helpees in this group (change scores ranged from 2 0.05 to 2 0.16). In comparison, neither Helpers nor Helpees in the parent discussion group demonstrated consistent improvements in parent – child interactions from pre- to postintervention like the intervention Helpees (change scores ranged from 0.05 to 2 0.23).

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TABLE 2 Within Group Differences from Pre- to Post-Intervention—MBRS (N ¼ 30) Parent Discussion (n ¼ 16)

Pre-Responsivity Post-Responsivity Pre-Warmth Post-Warmth Pre-Directiveness Post-Directiveness

Helpers

Helpees

Helpers

Helpees

3.91 (0.30) 3.75 (0.46) 4.00 (0.00) 3.88 (0.64) 2.55 (0.55) 2.50 (0.53)

3.00 (0.63) 3.60 (0.55) 3.18 (0.41) 3.40 (0.55) 2.55 (0.93) 2.60 (0.54)

4.05 (0.22) 3.82 (0.41) 3.85 (0.37) 3.82 (0.40) 2.50 (0.52) 2.36 (0.50)

3.37 (0.52) 3.25 (0.96) 3.13 (0.35) 3.00 (0.82) 2.50 (0.76) 3.00 (0.82)

Between-group comparisons using a two-way ANCOVA were conducted to compare postintervention adjusted mean scores for the participant groups while controlling for pre-intervention scores. The ANCOVA revealed no statistically significant differences between the treatment groups (intervention group and parent discussion group) and small effect sizes. Despite the relatively small effect sizes for each group, overall patterns revealed larger gaps in skills between the Helpees in the intervention and discussion groups adjusted mean scores (when controlling for pre-intervention scores), than the Helpers between the two groups. Specifically, Helpees in the intervention group showed notably higher Responsivity and Warmth adjusted means post-intervention in comparison to the parent discussion group Helpees. This same pattern was not identified with the Helpers across groups. See Table 2 for a comparison of pre- and post-intervention mean scores for participants in the intervention and discussion groups. See Figures 1 and 2 for comparisons of post intervention adjusted mean scores of the intervention and discussion groups (Figure 1) and the Helper/Helpee comparisons within those groups (Figure 2). Children’s Social Behavior There were no statistically significant differences found between the treatment conditions and Helper/Helpee groups on the social competence, anxiety/withdrawal scales (internalizing), or anger/aggression subscales (externalizing). However, preliminary findings were identified for the externalizing portion of this scale (which includes behaviors such as “easily frustrated,” “gets into 4.5 Post-Intervention

4 MBRS Ratings

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Intervention (n ¼ 14)

3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 Intervention

Discussion

Responsivity

Intervention

Discussion

Warmth

Intervention

Discussion

Directiveness

FIGURE 1 Between group differences intervention versus discussion—MBRS. Bars represent adjusted mean scores.

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MBRS Ratings

4.5 4

Helpers

3.5

Helpees

3 2.5 2

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1.5 1 Intervention

Discussion

Intervention

Responsivity

Dsicussion

Intervention

Warmth

Discussion

Directiveness

FIGURE 2 Between group differences from pre- to post-intervention—MBRS. Bars represent adjusted mean scores.

conflict with other children,” and “defiant when reprimanded”). According to paired samples ttests, negative change scores were demonstrated (intervention Helpees ¼ 2 4.8, intervention Helpers ¼ 2 1.60, discussion Helpees ¼ 2 3.00, and discussion Helpers ¼ 0.58) providing some preliminary evidence of teacher-reported decreased angry and aggressive classroom behaviors from pre- to post-intervention. As a result, children in the intervention group overall and children of Helpees in the discussion group were reported to have decreased angry –aggressive classroom behaviors post-intervention, while children of Helpers in the parent discussion group were reported to have a slight increase in these behaviors post-intervention. In addition, children of Helpees in the intervention group demonstrated the largest decrease in their anger –aggression mean scores from pre to post intervention in comparison to all other participants. Between-group comparisons using a two-way ANCOVA were conducted to compare postintervention adjusted mean scores for the participant groups while controlling for pre-intervention scores. Statistically significant differences were not found between the two groups or when comparing the Helper/Helpee roles within the two groups. However, an examination of overall patterns revealed that the intervention group demonstrated a lower adjusted mean score postintervention on the anger –aggression scale than the discussion group. In addition, Helpees in both groups had lower adjusted mean score than discussion Helpers post-intervention. See Table 3 for comparisons of pre- and post-mean scores for both participant groups and Figures 3 and 4 for comparisons of post-intervention scores for the intervention and discussion groups. Additional Findings Although research measures were selected based on links between intervention content and relevant outcome variables for participating parents and children, much of the everyday experience of the TABLE 3 Between Group Comparisons from Pre- to Post-Intervention—SCBE (N ¼ 50) Intervention (n ¼ 24)

Pre Anger-Aggression Post Anger-Aggression

Parent Discussion (n ¼ 26)

Helpers

Helpees

Helpers

Helpee

17.00 (3.9) 15.36 (5.3)

20.80 (6.4) 16.00 (5.6)

17.35 (3.6) 17.93 (3.5)

19.86 (5.0) 16.86 (5.3)

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19 18

Post intervention

17 SCBE

16 15 14 13 11 10 Intervention

Discussion Anger-Aggression

FIGURE 3 Between group differences intervention versus discussion—SCBE-30. Bars represent adjusted mean scores.

19 18

Helpers Helpees

17 16

SCBE

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12

15 14 13 12 11 10 Discussion

Intervention Anger-Aggression

FIGURE 4 Between group differences from pre- to post-intervention—SCBE-30. Bars represent adjusted mean scores.

families participating in the MMPP was not captured in the surveys and videotaped play sessions that were selected to assess intervention outcomes. In fact, the complex experiences of low-income, ethnic minority families and the multiple factors that influence parent – child relationships and children’s experiences in their homes, schools, and neighborhood are difficult to capture with the current measures that have been validated with these communities (Burton, 2001). Thus, these “unmeasured variables” must be weighed using other approaches. As such, participant feedback sessions were held with 25% of the participants within one month of post-data collection. During these feedback sessions, parents were asked to report on the benefits they experienced from participation in the MMPP and suggestions for improvement on the program for future participants. During these feedback groups, parents reported on changing their daily routines with their children and expanding their definition of play, “I started cooking with my child. I started taking them to museums. Before, I would probably have taken them home and let them play by themselves. But now I’m just more about being in their lives,” and “When we come home, he wants to play more with me. We learn to play different things together now, not just fighting with action figures.” They

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also reported on the benefit of spending time learning from other mothers and improving their bond with their children, “Some moms think they are trying to tell me how to raise my child. It’s not that. It’s how to help you bond more with your child,” and “She wants to play with me even more now. She used to go to my mother, but now she comes to me, and I love it.” This information on the “unmeasured impact” is consistent with previous research that concluded that a sample of lowincome, urban-residing, ethnic-minority families were motivated to participate in a community intervention based on their desire to improve their parenting skills, develop a greater understanding of their child’s development, get support, and improve their relationship with their child (Gross, Julion, & Fogg, 2001).

DISCUSSION Results from this study revealed that the MMPP had a positive impact on mothers’ play skills and on children’s angry and aggressive behaviors in their Head Start classrooms. Further, the most positive gains were demonstrated by Helpees (and children of Helpees). MMPP Helpees showed the greatest improvement on mother – child interactions in comparison to other Helpees and Helpers in both the MMPP and comparison group post intervention. Children in the MMPP demonstrated decreased angry and aggressive behaviors compared to children in the parent discussion group overall. Additionally, children of the Helpees in the MMPP demonstrated the greatest decrease in angry and aggressive behaviors of all groups. Despite the results not achieving statistical significance overall, the findings from this study provide some preliminary evidence for the hypothesized outcomes of the MMPP. Previous research provides support for these findings, indicating that encouraging parents to engage in more responsive interactions with their children resulted in positive behavioral outcomes for parents and children (Mahoney et al., 1998). Teachers reported notable distinctions on the angry and aggressive classroom behaviors, as these behaviors are more visible and disruptive in the preschool classroom environment than internalizing behaviors (anxiety –withdrawn subscale) and prosocial behaviors (social competence subscale) (Anthony, Anthony, Morrel, & Acosta, 2005). Although much of the research on children’s early aggressive behaviors has focused on the influence of parenting styles (e.g., Baumrind’s 1967 parenting typology), recent work has suggested that more direct parent – child interactions have a greater influence on child outcomes relating to aggression (Werner, Senich, & Przepyszny, 2006). As such, current research has demonstrated support for parent – child play intervention programs reducing conduct problem behaviors in preschool-aged children (WebsterStratton, Reid, & Hammond, 2001). Furthermore, a parent – child intervention that impacts both parent and child outcomes using culturally-sensitive techniques and practices provides an answer to the national call to develop interventions specifically for low-income, minority populations (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001). Limitations and Future Directions There were several limitations of this study that might have impacted the pilot intervention outcomes for participants and interpretation of findings. First, the relatively small sample size placed limitations on the statistical power of the analyses of intervention outcomes. Research on attrition in community-based interventions with low-income, ethnic minority families has shown that community-specific factors, such as employment and housing instability, and other scheduling challenges can differentially impact participant drop out (Sarkin, Tally, Cronan, & Matt, 1997). Previous research on challenges to attrition by Gross, Julion, & Fogg (2001) identified multiple factors important to improving often high attrition rates in intervention studies with low-income, urban, ethnic minority families. This study employed several of these factors to preemptively guard

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against significant attrition (e.g., utilizing facilitators that were members of the community, tailoring the program to community needs through previous pilot research, and offering incentives deemed desirable by the target community). Despite comparable attrition noted in other parent – child intervention studies (Mahoney et al., 1998), future research will seek to improve participant dropout using several additional measures. It is believed that person-centered variables (e.g., situational factors related to parent schedules and availability) and not program-centered variables (e.g., program structure, location, and perceive benefits) were the main threats to participant drop out (Sarkin et al., 1997). This assertion is grounded in the previous pilot research used to refine the program based on community input and feedback sessions held with participants after completing post-data collection. Although this anecdotal information is not documented in formal analyses, this evidence in nonetheless valuable in informing future directions of this intervention research. Given the importance of understanding attrition-related variables in any research on intervention effectiveness, future work on the MMPP will continue to explore and understand methods for ameliorating participant drop out and the impact of attrition on continued efficacy research. Through attrition rate reduction and increased sample size in future research on this intervention, further analyses can be conducted to explore the potential relationship between intervention outcomes and important demographic variables, such as marital status, family constellation, and child gender. The MMPP design included 10 sessions. Other successful interventions with similar populations have consisted of a longer intervention program, and/or longer individual sessions (Reid et al., 2001; Wagner et al., 2002). Due to the relatively short length of the MMPP sessions, parents were not exposed to the same amount of content as other successful intervention programs, thus limiting the strength of the impact on outcomes. Future research on the MMPP with similar populations will explore extending the length of the program to maximize the impact on participant outcomes. Recent research on Vygotsky’s (1978) zone of proximal development has proposed that it is not solely the presence of a “more capable other” that drives the learning process, but rather the “willingness to learn” by all participants. As such, this suggests that a greater understanding of participants’ engagement in learning during the MMPP is needed and perhaps an emphasis on this concept of the “willingness to learn” among participants may have had a more robust impact on maternal play behavior outcomes (Wells, 1999). Previous research has also concluded that didactic content paired with encouragement to engage in responsive play behaviors is an effective intervention combination that can influence positive parent outcomes (Mahoney et al., 1998). By being more explicit in the guidance given to mothers during the play sessions (through an emphasis on the importance of responsiveness to children during play), the parent – child outcomes may also be enhanced. Further, providing more tailored instructions to the Helpers to explicitly identify their pre-intervention strengths and reinforce their role as positive models, a potential regression toward the mean of the mothers with the strongest play skills could likely be prevented. Given the timeframe of pre- and post-data collection (across the span of several months in a singular school year) and the feedback from participants regarding the intervention-related changes made to their daily lives as parents, it will be important in future research on the MMPP to implement a longitudinal design to gather follow up data with parents in the year following the implementation of the intervention. This design will allow for greater insight into the long-term impact of this kind of intervention program on important parent and child outcomes related to school readiness. Despite the links between parent –child interactions and children’s social outcomes, this research has been equivocal with low-income, African American populations (Huang, Caughy, Genevro, & Miller, 2005). As a result, the specific measures employed (though validated with the population) may not have targeted the ideal outcomes for this study. Though this does not mean that these factors are not important for low-income, African American families, it may mean that there are additional factors that need to be considered when studying parent – child interactions with this

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population. Additional outcomes, like social support and parent beliefs about the importance of play in child development, while not assessed in this study, have been identified in the literature as important factors in understanding parent –child interactions with low-income, minority families (Fogle & Mendez, 2006; Mowbray, Bybee, Hollingsworth, Goodkind, & Oyserman, 2005). Previous research has concluded that understanding social support is a highly valuable component of family-based intervention (Dunst, Trivette, & Hamby, 1994) and an essential aspect of positive parenting in low-income, minority communities (Franco et al., 2010). Informal feedback sessions with MMPP participants revealed that parents experienced increased feelings of social support during their participation in the intervention. Thus, including a measure of social support in future MMPP research will be an essential outcome of this program. MMPP participants also reported that through expanded definitions of play and increased understandings of the importance of play in early childhood development, they were now engaging in play with their children more often. This type of outcome would be important to further understand in future research on the MMPP. From conceptualization to implementation, the MMPP was intended to be a sustainable program for Head Start staff and families. Essential to ensuring the sustainability of the MMPP was to enable staff members to independently implement all aspects of the intervention program. The current dyadic pairing process included multiple complex steps led by the researcher and supported by grant funding and a team of research assistants. These steps were essential to the development of this innovative, scientifically rigorous study. To achieve sustainability, alternative methods for the dyadic pairing procedure must be explored. A practitioner-based, observational measure of parent – child play interactions that has been validated with low-income, African American families (Roggman, Cook, Innocenti, Jump Norman, & Christiansen, 2009) would be ideal for implementing the MMPP by Head Start staff in the future.

IMPLICATIONS FOR EVIDENCE-BASED RESEARCH AND PRACTICE WITH FAMILIES OF YOUNG CHILDREN Providing evidence-based interventions that demonstrate cultural validity and sensitivity to the needs of the participant communities is essential to promoting the healthy development of lowincome, ethnic-minority families (Briggs, 2009). The present findings are a preliminary step in the development of a community-based intervention with immediate support from the developmental literature. Implementing an innovative, evidence-based intervention program that supports the strengths of low-income minority families of young children is an important contribution to the field of social work research. Often, research conducted with low-income, minority communities utilizes a deficit-oriented perspective, highlighting community challenges, risks, and weaknesses. Although this type of research is also important to expanding our understanding of community needs, the current study aimed to build on parent strengths and Head Start program resources to benefit parent – child interactions and children’s socio-emotional development. This strengthsbased perspective for research with low-income, ethnic-minority communities allows participants to be empowered to learn from peers and fosters a context for the development of natural support systems among parents and Head Start staff, who are often members of the same community. Given the notable barriers to implementing evidence-based programming in various settings (Powers, Bowen, & Bowen, 2010), this strengths-based approach to research with ethnic-minority communities has also been identified as a method of increasing intervention accessibility, decreasing attrition, and promoting sustainability (Atkins, Graczyk, Frazier, & Abdul-Adil, 2003; Snell-Johns et al., 2004). By utilizing natural resources within Head Start programs, such as the inclusion of staff as facilitators, the MMPP reinforced ownership of the program with the very

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community participating in the research (Atkins et al., 2006; Atkins et al., 2003; Frazier, AbdulAdil, Atkins, Gathright, & Jackson, 2007). Interventions like the MMPP, which target the importance of developing more positive parent – child interactions for preschool children, can have a positive impact on family outcomes, and classroom outcomes as well. By providing a context for parents to learn and practice effective play skills with their children, not only did parents enhance their own skill level, but their involvement with their children appeared to have a positive impact on their children’s social and emotional skill development, especially for the most vulnerable group of parents. Since externalizing behaviors are visibly evident and disruptive in classroom contexts (Anthony et al., 2005), intervention programs, like the MMPP, that reduce these behaviors in the classroom could positively impact not only individual child’s functioning, but the overall classroom climate for all children. In addition to the immediate participating community, the findings from this study can also inform the larger audience of researchers and practitioners seeking to employ evidence-based programming with families of young children. Through these kinds of community partnerships between researchers and practitioners in agencies serving families, evidence-based programs can remain responsive to the extant literature promoting best practices to supporting healthy child development as well as the specific needs of the communities being served (Thyer, 2004). Further, programming, like the MMPP, that focuses on children’s development in the context of their families, neighborhoods, and cultures provides opportunities for communities to not just participate in evidence-based research, but to take on empowered roles through leadership in the implementation of intervention programs, thus aiding in program sustainability (Atkins et al., 2006; Canning & Fantuzzo, 2000). It is through these kinds of collaborations with community-based programs that the connection between research and practice can be strengthened (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001). ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author is especially grateful to the Head Start collaborators in New York City.

FUNDING This research project was supported by a Head Start Graduate Student Research Grant awarded to the author from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

NOTE 1. In the initial design of this study, a waitlist control group was also included for further comparison purposes. However, this group (n ¼ 26) was contaminated due to participants engaging in a nationally recognized parenting program simultaneously being offered in their Head Start sites, with overlapping content and goals, called The Parenting Journey. Since multiple parents in the waitlist control group ultimately received a form of an intervention between pre-and post-test periods for this study, and because pre- and post-assessments for the group revealed notable gains across intervention outcomes for the waitlist control group, this data is considered contaminated.

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