Supporting the Needs of Urban, Head Start Parents to Engage in Group Preventative Parent Training Programs (PPTPs)

Group preventative parent training programs (PPTPs) have been used successfully to improve outcomes for families living in poverty in settings such as Head Start. Nevertheless, such programs face significant enrollment and engagement challenges. Given that research on factors related to parent preferences for group PPTP participation is limited, the purpose of the current study is to examine what types of programs are most preferred by a combined sample of English and Spanish speaking Head Start parents, and to translate program modeling of parent preferences into feasible programming options. The current study relies on conjoint analysis, a technique derived from market research, to learn more about how Head Start parents leverage attributes of a parenting program when making hypothetical participation decisions. Based on a discrete choice experiment with 234 urban, Early Head Start and Head Start parents, findings indicate that parents prioritize program attributes that target strong improvements for their children on desired outcomes, such as academics and friendship skills, while also offering incentives for participation. Simulations indicated that 77.6% of parents preferred an Optimizing Outcomes Program, while 22.4% preferred a Foundational Needs Program. Finally, results indicate that child prosocial or difficult behavior and parent depression risk are associated with specific program preferences. Parents with fewer resources prefer programs that are more foundational and realistic to target more modest gains. Implications are discussed in terms of program modeling and offering programs tailored to preferences.