Cultural Adaptation of Legacy for ChildrenTM for Latino Communities: Mixed Methods Evaluation (OK UCEDD LEND)

February 2, 2015

Jane F. Silovsky, PhD, Lana Beasley, PhD*, Angela Harnden, PhD, Zohal Heidari, BA,
La Chanda Stephens Totimeh, BA, Melissa Brown, Irma Esparza**,
Hannah Espeleta, BA* & Amber Morrow, BA

University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center,
Oklahoma Center for Learning and Leadership, UCEDD/LEND
and the Center on Child Abuse and Neglect
*Oklahoma State University
**Latino Community Development Center

 

Legacy for Children^TM is an evidence-based program developed by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) focused on promoting positive parenting for children in families with low-income. The Legacy for Children^TM develops a positive social community of mothers that is designed to strengthen the parent-child relationship and support mothers to promote their children's health and socio-emotional development more effectively. Results from randomized clinical trials are positive, showing lower behavior problems, socio-emotional problems, and hyperactive behavior symptoms in children of mothers who participated in the Legacy for Children^TM program than those in the control group (Kaminski et al., 2013).

The Legacy for Children^TM program has been translated and culturally adapted for Latino families. OUHSC was recently funded to examine the cultural adaptation, feasibility, and initial outcomes of the Legacy for Children program. After a competitive bid process, the contract for this study was awarded by the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) for the initiatives under a grant agreement from the CDC. The work is sponsored through the AUCD-CDC cooperative agreement and housed at the Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (CCAN) which is part of the AUCD network center, through the Oklahoma UCEDD/LEND program.

The OUHSC study will use a mixed-methods approach to first examine the social validity, acceptability, and cultural congruency for service providers and parent consumers of the culturally-adapted services of Legacy for Children^TM. Latina providers teaching parenting to first-generation immigrant families with young children in Oklahoma will review and provide feedback on the cultural congruency and feasibility of the program via focus groups. The adapted curriculum will also be reviewed by providers for the Tulsa Educare program. Qualitative interviews and focus groups will be conducted with the providers to examine both the cultural congruency of the adapted program, as well as addressing the supports needed for successful implementation of the program for Oklahoma Latino communities. In addition, qualitative interviews will be conducted with potential consumers as well bilingual families currently enrolled in The Legacy for Children^TM to examine cultural congruency and needed areas of supports.

Oklahoma is a logical site for the implementation and evaluation of The Legacy for Children^TM adapted program for Latino families. Culturally-congruent family support and prevention programs are not currently available in the Latino community at a level to meaningfully curtail or attenuate risk for young children. The Spanish-speaking Latino population is the fastest growing minority ethnic group in Oklahoma. The Latino population in Oklahoma almost doubled from 2000 to 2010, according to the US Census (2014). Furthermore, the Latino population continued to grow 85 percent from 2010 to 2014, to 347,000. Latinos are currently nine percent of the state's population and 13% of the K-12 students (Kemp, 2014; Pew Hispanic Center, 2014). In Tulsa County, 28% of the public school students were Hispanic/Latino in 2010. Spanish is by far the most frequent language spoken in Oklahoma other than English, (US Census, 2014). Unfortunately, there is evidence of health and income disparities and greater hardships among Latino families in Oklahoma, placing the children at greater risk for poverty. In 2010, 38% of the youth under 17 who were Hispanic/Latino lived in poverty. Health insurance can be difficult to obtain, with 39% of Hispanic/Latino people in Oklahoma having no insurance in 2010 (Pew Hispanic Center, 2014).

The adaptation of The Legacy for Children^TM for Latino communities in Oklahoma is an effort to help bridge the gaps identified in the provision and contextual structure of prevention services and programs. The present study will use a mixed-methods approach to first examine the social validity and acceptability of the culturally-adapted services of The Legacy for Children^TM for providers and parent consumers. Planning for fidelity and outcomes evaluation will occur early in Year 01, with such evaluation being initiated at the end of Year 01.