Randomized Controlled Trial of Prenatal Coparenting Intervention for African American Fragile Families

 描述(由申请人提供)：解决非裔美国婴儿早期发育中的棘手差异的战略必须涉及有意义和持续的父亲参与。如果他们的父母很早就建立了积极的伴侣关系，那么未婚父母所生的贫穷的非裔美国婴儿更有可能得到父亲的支持。目前还没有经过经验验证的产前干预措施成功地鼓励未婚父亲和母亲有意识地建立持久的联盟，以维护婴儿的最佳利益。R01通过RCT方法测试一种新干预措施的有效性，该干预措施专门设计用于帮助有风险的(未婚、未婚、低收入)非洲裔美国人母亲和共同生育第一个孩子的父亲之间发展积极的伙伴关系联盟。一项名为“为儿童弄清真相”的可行性试点研究(FIOC)要求佛罗里达州圣彼得堡的卫生和公共服务机构以及以信仰为基础的社区的主要非裔美国利益攸关方给予肯定和支持，以建立一个实地准备的团队，以应对招募、保留和成功实施干预措施的巨大挑战。75个随机分配的控制组家庭将像往常一样接受县级服务，并得到合作的卫生和人类服务机构的帮助，转介到所需的服务，而75个试验组家庭将获得同样的服务和援助，外加6次产前干预和产后强化会议。干预措施涉及安全、健康的家庭对早期婴儿发育的重要性，合作和持续的伴侣联盟在促进婴儿积极发展方面的影响，当未婚父母对彼此作为浪漫或已婚伴侣的承诺存在疑问时，他们面临的共同培养伴侣联盟的挑战，以及克服这些障碍、保持融洽关系和维持强大联盟的方法。所有150个参与家庭，无论是在接受干预之前，还是在产后3个月和12个月再次参加，都将报告关于父亲的信念、抑郁症状的程度以及母亲-父亲伙伴关系的质量。在每次跟进时，将进行现场合作观察，以及父母压力、家庭暴力、感知到的合作支持、父亲参与和婴儿社会情绪适应的测量。分析将检查干预措施在促进更具支持性、协调性的产后配对联盟和更积极的成人和婴儿结局方面的影响。探索性分析将审查与父亲与儿童适应相关的问题，以及这种共同干预是否可以减少家庭暴力。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Strategies for addressing intractable disparities in the early development of African American infants must involve meaningful and sustained father engagement. Poor African American infants born to unmarried uncoupled parents are more likely to have such a presence by fathers if their parents create a positive coparenting alliance early on. No empirically-validated prenatal interventions that successfully encourage unmarried fathers and mothers to intentionally create enduring alliances in their babies' best interest currently exist. This R01 tests through RCT methodology efficacy of a new intervention designed specifically to aid development of positive coparenting alliances between at-risk (unmarried, uncoupled, low income) African American mothers and fathers having a first baby together. A feasibility pilot study "Figuring It Out for the Child" (FIOC) that enjoined affirmatio and support from key African American stakeholders in St. Petersburg, Florida's health and human service and faith-based communities positions a field-ready to team to meet the considerable challenges of recruitment, retention and successful implementation of the intervention. Seventy-five randomly-assigned control group families will receive county services as-usual for pregnant parents and assistance of the partnering health and human service agencies with referrals to desired services, while 75 experimental group families will receive the same services and aid, plus a 6-session prenatal intervention with a post-natal booster session. The intervention addresses the importance of safe, healthy families for early infant development, the impact a cooperative and sustained coparenting alliance can have in promoting positive infant development, challenges unmarried parents face cultivating a coparenting alliance together when their commitment to one another as romantic or married partners is in doubt, and ways to surmount these obstacles, maintain rapport, and sustain a strong alliance. All 150 participating families, both at intake (prior to the intervention) and the again at 3 and 12 months post-partum, will report beliefs about fatherhood; extent of depressive symptomatology; and quality of the mother-father partnership. State-of-the-field coparenting observations will be conducted at each follow-up, along with measures of parental stress, domestic violence, perceived coparenting support, father engagement, and infant socioemotional adjustment. Analyses will examine impact of the intervention on promoting more supportive, coordinated post-partum coparenting alliances and more positive adult and infant outcomes. Exploratory analyses will examine questions relevant to father associations with child adjustment and whether this coparent intervention can reduce domestic violence.