Filipino youth living in the United States (US) have significant behavioral health problems, including alarmingly
high rates of adolescent depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicidal behavior. Suboptimal parent-child
relationships and harsh discipline are critical risk factors for behavioral health problems among youth. Filipino
families also face acculturative challenges, parental separation due to immigration, family conflict, parental
mental health disorders, and maltreatment. Few, if any prevention programs are available to Filipinos despite
their rapid population growth in the US. The Incredible Years® School Age Parent Training Program (IY) is an
evidence-based preventive intervention designed to improve parenting skills and parent-child relationships
among families with school age youth. As a result of pilot studies funded through a K23 grant from NICHD, a
KL2 grant from NCATS, we have demonstrated IY efficacy in improving positive parenting practices and child
depression and anxiety symptoms in Filipino families. We have improved the intervention protocol for use
online with older children and secured agreements from community agencies to participate in the project.
Further research is needed on the effectiveness of online IY, and the impact of engagement (i.e., attendance)
on intervention outcomes as well as the barriers and facilitators to implementation by providers in community
agencies. Building upon ongoing collaborative research and community awareness-raising within Filipino
communities in California, we propose a Type 1 hybrid, individually group randomized treatment trial to
compare IY with a usual care control group who will receive IY after 3 months. Specifically, the study seeks to
recruit a sample of 250 Filipino parents and children ages 8-12 years through community organizations in
California. Participants in both groups will be followed for a minimum of 6 months with assessments that
include parent-report and child-report. Our primary objective is to test the effectiveness of online IY on our
primary outcomes: parent-reported parenting practices (positive verbal discipline), child-reported child
depression and anxiety symptoms, and secondary outcomes: parent-reported physical punishment, parent-
reported child internalizing behavior, parent-reported child depression & anxiety symptoms, and parent- and
child-reported youth resilience. Our specific aims are: 1) To test the effectiveness of the online Incredible
Years® model of parent training and its impact on primary and secondary outcomes; 2) To determine
the impact of engagement (i.e., IY attendance) on primary outcomes; and 3) To describe intervention
delivery and its online implementation in real-world community settings. We will utilize quantitative and
qualitative research methodologies to advance the scientific understanding of parenting interventions during
middle childhood. If the approach and intervention format succeed with Filipinos, comparable strategies could
be used effectively reach other immigrant or minority populations, many of whom are reluctant to seek
preventive parenting programs.
