Adapting a Positive Affect Intervention to Enhance the Well-Being of Parents Participating in Head Start Programs - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Children and families who are living in poverty are at heightened risk for stress, disrupted family relationships, and diminished parent and child mental health outcomes (e.g., depression, behavior problems). Thus, two-generation interventions delivered in settings serving economically distressed families are needed. Head Start (HS) preschool programs use two-generation approaches to enhance the well-being of families with low-income. However, current services offered in HS do not explicitly target parental positive affect (PA), a core component of parental well-being and family functioning. The purpose of this study is to adapt a brief, adjunct intervention to improve the PA of parents and their children involved in HS. The specific aims are to: 1) adapt a brief PA intervention (i.e., Skills to Enhance Positivity) in collaboration with a community advisory board and through qualitative focus groups involving HS parents (n = 10-14) and members of the HS workforce (n = 10-14); 2) iteratively adapt the intervention with HS parents (n = 15) and receive feedback from HS staff (n=2-4) in a pilot trial and evaluate its feasibility and acceptability guided by the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework; and 3) evaluate the engagement of therapeutic mechanisms presumed to underlie the intervention in a pilot randomized control trial (RCT) with HS parents (n = 60) and staff (n = 2-6). The proposed adaptation, Skills to Enhance Positivity for Parents of Young Children (STEP-PC), includes four evidence-based modules that provide psychoeducation on emotions and skills training in mindfulness, gratitude, and savoring. Content will be delivered to parents during in-person, group-based sessions and through technology-delivered components (i.e., daily messages) designed to reinforce skill practice and further enhance the intervention (e.g., monitor affect, provide access to materials). Career development plan: Dr. Highlander is a clinical child psychologist/scientist with a research background in family focused interventions for improving early childhood mental health. She seeks to bolster her expertise with training in intervention adaptation informed by implementation science, community-partnered qualitative methods, and RCT design with children and families. This will be achieved through formal coursework, seminars, workshops, directed readings, and mentored research. Career goals: Dr. Highlander aims to be an independent researcher focused on elucidating mechanisms underpinning childhood mental health outcomes and developing and tailoring effective treatments using community-partnered approaches. Environment: Dr. Highlander is supported by Rhode Island Hospital and an exceptional team of investigators serving as mentors. Dr. Wolff, the primary mentor, has expertise implementing community-based interventions with parents and children. Three co-mentors bring complementary expertise in qualitative methods and implementation science (Dr. Rani Elwy), RCT design and working with early childhood populations in HS settings (Dr. Parade), and the STEP intervention and transdiagnostic treatment mechanisms (Dr. Yen).
