Family partnerships to support equity and cultural humility in pediatric intervention research

Family partnerships in community-engaged research (CEnR) can promote family-centered, equitable interventions. This paper describes the process (meeting frequency, content) of a collaborative research family partnership and related methodological modifications to support equity and cultural humility during a multi-phase project adapting and evaluating an early childhood sleep intervention (Sleep Well!) for families of primarily lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds in urban (large, metropolitan) primary care.

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Family Partners Program consulted on initial project development. Research family partners collaborated to modify intervention content, delivery methods, and research procedures in an open-pilot (NCT04046341) and randomized controlled trial (NCT04473222). We reviewed family partners meeting agendas, presentations, and minutes to identify meeting frequency, content, and resulting project modifications and to generate related themes. Family partners also provided recommendations for researchers, including for those without existing institutional CEnR resources.

Ten 60-120-min meetings with 4-6 family partners occurred over 4 years. Themes representing the partnership process and project modifications included enhancing flexibility, centering cultural humility, and incorporating contextual factors (coronavirus pandemic, police violence, racism). These factors were especially relevant as project participants were primarily Black mothers and/or of lower-SES backgrounds. Family partner recommendations highlighted the need for collaborative, meaningful, and communicative relationships in pediatric intervention research.

The extent of recommended project modifications highlights the importance of family partnerships to support equity and cultural humility in pediatric psychology research and practice. Findings also underscore the need for representation of racial and ethnic minoritized scholars and families in this work.