Systematically Adapted Delivery of the Family Check-Up

Systematically Adapted Delivery of the Family Check-Up in Underserved Communities

Early childhood disruptive behavior problems lead to significant costs to families and society, but can be reduced with behavioral parent training interventions. To increase the public health impact of these interventions, their feasibility, accessibility, and acceptability in high-need, underserved communities must be ensured. This pilot project will systematically adapt and pilot-test the delivery model of an existing effective parent training intervention for implementation in rural Appalachia, a region with many documented health disparities, high levels of poverty, and shortages of mental health providers. Community health workers in 5 rural Appalachian counties will be trained to deliver a behavioral parent training intervention. Each worker will deliver the intervention to 4 parent-child dyads.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Parents: aged 18+ years, custodial guardian of child, can speak/read/understand English
• Children: ages 3-5 years, lives full time in custodial guardian's home
• Community health workers: aged 18+ years, currently employed at a partnering health department, able to speak/read/understand English

Exclusion Criteria:

• Parents: has already accessed behavioral health services for the child, reports suicidal ideation or intent to harm self or others, participated in formative research for this study
• Children: diagnosed with a severe developmental condition (i.e., significant developmental delay, autism, debilitating neurological condition)
• Community health workers: none