Publication year
2016
Citation Title
If you build it, will they come? Patterns of internet-based and face-to-face participation in a parenting program for military families
Journal Name
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Journal Volume
18
Issue Number
6
Page Numbers
e169
DOI
10.2196/jmir.4445
Summary
Understanding who engages in parenting education programs and by which modes of delivery (e.g., inperson, online) allows providers to tailor programs to have the greatest impact on families. This study examined the associations between military parent demographics and both online and in-person engagement in the After Deployment, Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT) program. Results suggest parent demographic characteristics may be related to different preferred modes of delivery.
Key Findings
Parents tended to have either very high or very low levels of engagement, with highly-engaged parents accessing 41 of 56 online components and attending 9.8 of 14 sessions on average.
Parents who were female, incentivized, more educated, and never deployed were more likely to engage online, and parents with younger children and higher education attended more sessions.
Low levels of engagement were associated with having older children and being employed.
The longer parents had been deployed, the less likely they were to be highly engaged.
Implications for Program Leaders
Offer military parents childcare during parent education sessions to promote more engagement
Provide online options and supplementary information for existing military parenting programs
Disseminate information to military parents, especially those with low education levels, history of deployment, or older children, about the benefits of parent education programs
Implications for Policy Makers
Continue to support military parenting education programs that utilize multiple delivery modes
Recommend professional development courses for providers working with military families regarding factors that may influence engagement in parenting programs
Encourage existing in-person military programs to develop online modules and materials
Methods
Parents were included from seven cohorts of an ADAPT program treatment trial, which recruited military families from the Midwest via military event presentations, referrals, word-of-mouth, and media ads.
Parents were invited to participate in the ADAPT program (14 in-person sessions and online modules); frequency of attendance and module use were calculated and incentivized for cohorts 3-7.
Associations between self-reported military parent demographics and use of online modules and attendance at sessions for the ADAPT parenting program were examined.
Participants
Participants included 370 parents from 207 National Guard or Reserve families with at least one parent deployed in OEF/OIF/OND since 2001 and a child between the ages of 4-12 years.
Of the 370 parents, 292 (79%) participated at least once, with 73% participating online and 52% in-person; parents were 51% mothers and primarily White (91%) and married (88%).
Parents were military spouses (39%) or belonged to the Army National Guard or Reserve (44%), Air Force National Guard of Reserve (8%), or Navy National Guard or Reserve (2%).
Limitations
Parents were offered in-person sessions with supplementary online modules post-session, not allowing for an equal comparison of engagement in randomly-assigned modes of delivery.
Engagement in online modules was measured by whether a parent clicked on the module, which does not capture completion of the module or time spent on the material.
Parents were categorized into five groups by high and low online and in-person engagement, resulting in somewhat muddled interpretations of results.
Avenues for Future Research
Explore the effects of parental psychological factors (e.g., motivation, self-efficacy) on engagement
Determine whether online-only options increase participation of military parents who may not otherwise participate due to accessibility concerns (e.g., transportation, childcare)
Examine military parent program engagement both when parents are randomly-assigned to delivery modes and when parents choose their preferred delivery mode
Focus
Multiple Branches
Population Focus
Military Component
Abstract
Background: Some evidence suggests parents are drawn to media-based interventions over face-to-face interventions, but little is known about the factors associated with parents’ use of Internet-based or Internet-enhanced programs, especially among military families. Research is needed to understand characteristics of parents who may be most likely to use online components or attend face-to-face meetings in order to ensure maximum engagement. Objective: In this study, we examined characteristics that predict various patterns of Internet use and face-to-face attendance in a parenting program designed for military families. Methods: An ecological framework guided analysis of differences in patterns of Internet-based use and face-to-face attendance by parents’ demographic characteristics (gender, education, employment, and child age), incentives offered, and number of months the parent was deployed. We reported differences in the total number of online components completed over the 14 modules, total number of face-to-face sessions attended, and the use of different types of online components accessed (videos, downloadable handouts, mindfulness exercises, knowledge checks, and downloadable summaries). Then, we computed multinomial logistic regression accounting for nestedness (parents within families) to examine associations between demographic, programmatic, and military-related characteristics and patterns of engagement (use of online components and attendance at face-to-face sessions). Results: Just over half (52.2%, 193/370) of the participants used the online components at least once, and the majority of participants (73.2%, 271/370) attended at least 1 face-to-face session. An examination of different patterns of participation revealed that compared with those who participated primarily in face-to-face sessions, parents who participated online but had little face-to-face participation were more likely to have received incentives than those who did not (95% CI 1.9-129.7). Among participants who had been deployed, those who had earned a 4-year degree (95% CI 1.0-2.2) and those who had been offered incentives to participate online (95% CI 2.1-58.6) were more likely to be highly engaged in online components and attend face-to-face compared with those who attended primarily face-to-face. However, those with a high number of months of deployment (95% CI 0.6-1.0) were less likely to be in the pattern of highly engaged in online components and face-to-face attendance. Compared with those who participated primarily face-to-face, deployed mothers were about 4 times more likely to engage in moderate online use with face-to-face attendance than deployed fathers (95% CI 1.21-11.83) and participate primarily online (95% CI 0.77-25.20). Conclusions: Results imply that parents may be drawn to different delivery options of a parenting program (online components vs face-to-face sessions) depending on their education level, incentives to engage in online components, and their military-related experience. Results suggest potential directions for tailoring Internet-based interventions.
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