This study examined parents’ perceived barriers to participation in a multicomponent prevention program implemented by a community agency serving culturally diverse urban neighborhoods. The Early Risers Participation Interview (ER-PI), modeled after Kadzin et al.'s (1997) Barriers to Treatment Participation Scale, was administered to parents (N=138) of children who were screened for disruptive behavior and were randomized into a two-year intervention condition. Results showed that the perceived barriers score provided significant information in differentiating low and high participators after controlling for child, parent, and family characteristics. Early identification and resolution of parents’ perceived barriers to participation may be key to implementing multifaceted preventive programs successfully in inner-city neighborhoods.
Editor's Strategic Implications: The authors present promising practices for client engagement and retention. The experimental, longitudinal design is notable, especially in the evaluation of a community-run prevention program.
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Notes
A three-factor structure of the measure, combining stressors/obstacles and demand domains, was tested to examine if the three-factor structure would yield a better fit. Fit indices did not meet the goodness of fit criteria.
Because of missing data in the independent variables, total number of participants included in the logistic analyses was N=114. There were no significant baseline characteristic differences between those who were included in the analysis and those who were excluded due to missing data. When missing values were imputed using the expectation maximization algorithm and all participants (N=138) were included in the analyses, results yielded same significant findings as those reported in the Results section.
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This study was supported by an award from the National Institute of Mental Health [MH 63328].
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Lee, S.S., August, G.J., Bloomquist, M.L. et al. Implementing an Evidence-Based Preventive Intervention in Neighborhood Family Centers: Examination of Perceived Barriers to Program Participation. J Primary Prevent 27, 573–597 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-006-0060-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-006-0060-x