Applying the Principles of Direct-to-Consumer Marketing to Recruit Mothers and Fathers to Parenting Programs: A...

Parenting programs are effective in promoting positive changes and improving the mental health of children and parents. However, low program uptake undermines the incorporation of these programs into routine community settings. Therefore, we examined whether redesigning the program flyer using insight from consumer science could increase parental participation. In this randomized controlled trial, 164 preschools were randomly assigned to a control condition or one of four experimental conditions. Parents of children in each condition were invited to participate in a universal parenting program using either the usual flyer used by local practitioners (control flyer) or one of four new flyers. The new flyers were designed based on prior research findings on why parents participate in universal parenting programs. Because fathers and mothers have been shown to have different reasons for attending parenting programs, we tailored the flyers separately for mothers and fathers. The four flyers were one mother-specific flyer, one father-specific flyer and two mixed-content flyers. The number of participants recruited varied significantly across the flyers. Overall, the redesigned mother-specific and father-specific flyers, but not the mixed-content flyers, outperformed the control flyer in recruiting parents. In addition, compared with the two mixed-content flyers, the mother-specific flyer attracted significantly more mothers and the father-specific flyer attracted more fathers. However, we found no difference between the two specific flyers themselves. Simple direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing strategies tailored specifically to mothers or fathers can potentially increase program uptake. Future studies should further examine the importance of the visual and content of DTC messages.