Applying the resource management principle to achieve community engagement and experimental rigor in the multiphase optimization strategy framework.

Preventing and treating mental health and substance use problems requires effective, affordable, scalable, and efficient interventions. The multiphase optimization strategy (MOST) framework guides researchers through a phased and systematic process of developing optimized interventions. However, new methods of systematically incorporating information about implementation constraints across MOST phases are needed. We propose that early and sustained integration of community-engaged methods within MOST is a promising strategy for enhancing an optimized intervention's potential for implementation. In this article, we outline the advantages of using community-engaged methods throughout the intervention optimization process, with a focus on the Preparation and Optimization Phases of MOST. We discuss the role of experimental designs in optimization research and highlight potential challenges in conducting rigorous experiments in community settings. We then demonstrate how relying on the resource management principle to select experimental designs across MOST phases is a promising strategy for maintaining both experimental rigor and community responsiveness. We end with an applied example illustrating a community-engaged approach to optimize an intervention to reduce the risk for mental health problems and substance use problems among children with incarcerated parents.

Strategies for Engaging Communities and Ensuring Research Quality in the Multiphase Optimization Strategy Plain Language Summary What is already known about the topic? Interventions must be effective, affordable, scalable, and efficient to be successfully implemented and achieve maximum public health impact. The multiphase optimization strategy is a strategic and phased approach to developing optimized interventions. Community-engaged research has been used to bolster an intervention's potential for implementation.What does this paper add? The article guides researchers who are employing community-engaged research methods to systematically conduct activities in different phases of the intervention optimization process. The end goal is to create an optimized intervention ready for successful implementation in its intended delivery setting.What are the implications for practice, research, or policy? Incorporating input from key stakeholders in every phase of the intervention optimization process can enhance the public health impact of community-based interventions for mental health and substance use problems.

Mending fragile alliances to fight racism: A developing framework for cross-racial/ethnic solidarity.

In today's sociopolitical climate (e.g., erasure of history, increase in anti-Asian violence, repeal of affirmative action), the fragility of minoritized alliances has become more prominently exposed. Cross-racial/ethnic solidarity work, which is broadly defined as joining a resistance through physical presence or activism against common oppression (Araiza, 2009), is an important response to this sociopolitical shift. Solidarity work between minoritized communities has ebbed and flowed throughout U.S. history with common goals and movements. However, solidarity work can be challenging because of the fractured alliances that have occurred within the historical context of racism and White supremacy. One initiative that is committed to action regarding this understudied area of cross-racial/ethnic solidarity is Dr. Kevin Cokley's Division 45 Presidential Task Force on Cross-Racial/Ethnic Solidarity: Toward Being an Accomplice. We developed a cross-racial/ethnic solidarity framework to explore historical and contemporary contexts (e.g., slavery/capitalism, genocide/colonialism, orientalism/war) that perpetuate "colonial splitting" among marginalized communities as well as mediating and moderating factors that can lead to either conflictual or coalitional cross-racial/ethnic tendencies. We hope that our working framework will provide a foundation for research, training, clinical, and community work toward an interdisciplinary approach to cross-racial/ethnic solidarity accompliceship. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Prospective Effects of Caregiver Parenting on Behavioral Health Outcomes for Children with Incarcerated Parents: a Family Resilience Perspective.

Rates of parental incarceration in the USA have increased dramatically over the past four decades. The Adverse Childhood Experiences study identified parental incarceration as one of several risk factors related to multiple health outcomes during childhood and adulthood. Parents and other caregivers are widely regarded as sources of resilience for children experiencing adversity, yet few studies have examined caregivers' parenting practices as sources of resilience for children with incarcerated parents. This study used secondary data from a longitudinal randomized controlled trial of the prison-based parent management training program Parenting Inside Out (PIO). Specifically, it included 149 caregivers (i.e., the non-incarcerated parent, extended family member, or other adult who provides the day-to-day caretaking of a child during parental incarceration) of children aged 2-14 years whose incarcerated parents were randomly assigned to receive PIO or the control condition. Path analysis was used to examine associations between caregivers' parenting, social support, self-efficacy, and change in child internalizing and externalizing symptoms across a 6-month period. Direct effects of caregivers' parenting were found on improvements in child behavioral health from baseline (conducted when the parent was incarcerated) to the 6-month follow-up (conducted after most parents had been released). Indirect effects were found for caregiver social support and self-efficacy. The findings highlight the importance of caregivers' adaptive parenting as a protective resource for children who experience parental incarceration and have implications for the design of preventive interventions for this underserved population.

Video-Based Approach to Engaging Parents into a Preventive Parenting Intervention for Divorcing Families: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

The public health impact of evidence-based, preventive parenting interventions has been severely constrained by low rates of participation when interventions are delivered under natural conditions. It is critical that prevention scientists develop effective and feasible parent engagement methods. This study tested video-based methods for engaging parents into an evidence-based program for divorcing parents. Three alternative versions of a video were created to test the incremental effectiveness of different theory-based engagement strategies based on social influence and health behavior models. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare the three experimental videos versus two control conditions, an information-only brochure and an information-only video. Participants were attendees at brief, court-mandated parent information programs (PIPs) for divorcing or never married, litigating parents. Of the 1123 eligible parents, 61% were female and 13% were never married to the child's other parent. Randomization to one of five conditions was conducted at the PIP class level, blocking on facilitator. All participants completed a 15-item, empirically validated risk index and an invitation form. Results of regression analyses indicated that the most streamlined version, the core principles video, significantly increased parents' interest in participating in the parenting intervention, enrollment during a follow-up call, and initiation (i.e., attending at least one session) compared to one or the other control conditions. Findings suggest that videos based on social influence and health behavior theories could provide an effective and feasible method for increasing parent engagement, which would help maximize the public health benefits of evidence-based parenting interventions.