Improvements in Unmarried African American Parents' Rapport, Communication, and Problem-Solving Following a Prenatal Coparenting Intervention

• Published in: Family process 2015-12, Vol.54 (4), p.619-629
• Main Authors: McHale, James P., Salman-Engin, Selin, Coovert, Michael D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adjustment; Adolescent; Adult; African American fathers; African Americans; African Americans - psychology; Antenatal; buena relación; Charities; Children; co-crianza; Coding; Communication; Competence; comunicación; Conflict; Coparenting; Curricula; Education, Nonprofessional; familias frágiles; Families & family life; Family Characteristics; Fathers - education; Fathers - psychology; Female; Fidelity; Fragile families; Health; Health problems; Human services; Humans; Illegitimacy; Infants; Interpersonal Relations; intervención prenatal; Intervention; Marital Status; Mothers - education; Mothers - psychology; Parent-child relations; Parenting - psychology; Parents & parenting; Pilot Projects; Postpartum Period - psychology; Pregnancy; Pregnancy - psychology; Prenatal intervention; Problem Solving; Rapport; Referrals; Religious beliefs; Religious cultural groups; resolución de problemas; Sex differences; Social agencies; Social services; Social services delivery; Wrongdoing; Young Adult; 产前干预; 共同养育子女; 沟通; 脆弱家庭; 解决问题; 配合
• ISSN: 0014-7370; 1545-5300
• DOI: 10.1111/famp.12147

This report examines effects of a coparenting intervention designed for and delivered to expectant unmarried African American mothers and fathers on observed interaction dynamics known to predict relationship adjustment. Twenty families took part in the six‐session “Figuring It Out for the Child” (FIOC) dyadic intervention offered in a faith‐based human services agency during the third trimester of the mother's pregnancy, and completed a postpartum booster session 1 month after the baby's arrival. Parent referrals for the FIOC program were received from a county Health Department and from OBGYNs and Pregnancy Centers in the targeted community. All intervention sessions were delivered by a trained male–female paraprofessional team whose fidelity to the FIOC manualized curriculum was independently evaluated by a team of trained analysts. At both the point of intake (“PRE”) and again at an exit evaluation completed 3 months postpartum (“POST”), the mothers and fathers were videotaped as they completed two standardized “revealed differences” conflict discussions. Blinded videotapes of these sessions were evaluated using the System for Coding Interactions in Dyads. Analyses documented statistically significant improvements on 8 of 12 variables examined, with effect sizes ranging from moderate to large. Overall, 14 families demonstrated beneficial outcomes, 3 did not improve, and 3 showed some signs of decline from the point of intake. For most interaction processes, PRE to POST improvements were unrelated to degree of adherence the paraprofessional interventionists showed to the curriculum. However, better interventionist competence was related to decreases in partners' Coerciveness and Negativity and Conflict, and to smaller increases in partner Withdrawal. Implications of the work for development and delivery of community‐based coparenting interventions for unmarried parents are discussed. En este informe se examinan los efectos de una intervención en la co‐crianza diseñada para madres y padres afroamericanos que estaban esperando un/a hijo/a y no estaban casados en relación con la dinámica de interacción observada, conocida por predecir la adaptación en la relación. Veinte familias participaron en una intervención diádica de seis sesiones llamada “Descubrir la solución por el niño” (Figuring It Out for the Child, FIOC) ofrecida en una organización religiosa de servicios humanos durante el tercer trimestre de embarazo de la madre, y realizaron una sesión adic