Telehealth Delivery of a Behavioral Parent Training Program to Spanish-Speaking Latinx Parents of Young Children With Developmental Delay: Applying an Implementation Framework Approach

Abstract

Families play an important role in supporting children’s learning and behavioral health. School psychologists are ideally situated to promote family–school partnerships, home–school collaboration, and enhance positive parenting practices on behalf of students. When American schools closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, many families experienced increased stress and caregiving burden associated with supporting their children at home. We delivered a behavioral parent training program via telehealth to 42 Spanish-speaking Latinx parents of preschool children with developmental delay (DD) and elevated behavior problems during the pandemic. We used an implementation framework to examine acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, feasibility, fidelity, and implementation cost of the telehealth approach for this sample. Our findings suggest overall positive implementation outcomes for Latinx parents of children with DD. We discuss key implementation issues that are relevant to school psychologists delivering consultation and family-centered interventions to support families and students from diverse backgrounds.

Impact Statement

Parents of children with disabilities experience heightened stress and caregiving burden, likely exacerbated by the school closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. We delivered a behavioral parent training program via telehealth during the pandemic to Spanish-speaking parents of preschool children with developmental delay to support parenting at home. Study findings suggest strong support for the implementation outcomes investigated.

Keywords:

• Latinx or Hispanic
• ethnic and linguistic diversity
• family interventions
• behavioral parent training
• preschool
• developmental delay
• telehealth
• COVID-19

Associate Editor:

• Cixin Wang

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was funded, in part, by a grant from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Humn Development awarded to Laura Lee McIntyre and Cameron Neece. We wish to acknowledge the contributions of Laura Caldera Aguayo, Alan Garcia Ceballos, Ann Marie Martin, Nuria Morales Coskran, Stephanie Puerta, Marbella Rodriguez, Julia Tienson, and Monica Vejar  who helped with the implementation of this study. We also wish to acknowledge the families who participated and so generously contributed their wisdom and insight.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST STATEMENT

No conflicts of interest have been declared.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laura Lee McIntyre

Laura Lee McIntyre, PhD, is a Professor of School Psychology, Department Head of Special Education and Clinical Sciences, and Director of the Prevention Science Institute at the University of Oregon. Her research interests focus on family-centered interventions and parent–professional partnerships to enhance family involvement in education to promote positive outcomes for students with disabilities and reduce disparities in access and outcomes.

Cameron L. Neece

Cameron L. Neece, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Loma Linda University. Her research interests focus on interventions to reduce psychological distress and increase well-being in caregivers of children with developmental disabilities. She incorporates aspects of mindfulness-based stress reduction with other key intervention components in her research.

Catherine M. Sanner

Catherine M. Sanner, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at Loma Linda University conducting research on families with young children with developmental disabilities and other pediatric populations. She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Loma Linda University.

Geovanna Rodriguez

Geovanna Rodriguez, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of School Psychology at the University of Oregon. Her research interests focus on school-based mental health for students with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities and supporting students from ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse backgrounds to improve mental health literacy.

Jonathan Safer-Lichtenstein

Jonathan Safer-Lichtenstein is a doctoral candidate in school psychology at the University of Oregon. His research interests focus on reducing disparities in identification and treatment of autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities in Latinx, Spanish-speaking families.