Promoting Parental Positive Involvement and Skill Encouragement: Jewels of Clinical Change in a Parenting Program for...

Parent training (PT) interventions constitute a gold standard for preventing a variety of mental health symptomatology in children and youth. Yet, there is a need to understand the best ways to deliver specific core PT components to caregivers who have experienced adverse backgrounds as children and contextual stressors that impact their parenting practices. In this review paper for clinicians and prevention interventionists, we reflect on lessons learned in a 15-year program of parenting prevention research with low-income Latine immigrants in the United States who have experienced significant adversity. Specifically, we examine the relevance of two core PT components of GenerationPMTO, an evidence-based parenting intervention. The components, positive involvement and skill encouragement, have been documented in empirical research as key precursors of positive child and youth development. Thus, we describe in this paper a process of clinical change that integrates GenerationPMTO theory, cultural adaptation and advocacy principles, as well as key tenets of experiential and contextual family therapy theories. We document the use of this process of clinical change as implemented across three prevention initiatives with low-income Latine immigrant populations. Lastly, we address implications for family therapy practice. Specifically, we elaborate on alternatives for providers to implement evidence-based programs and potentially enhance their effectiveness through the integration of experiential and contextual family therapy strategies. By focusing on Latine immigrant families as a case study, we hope that this manuscript can support the efforts of family therapists engaged in the delivery of parenting interventions for underserved caregivers exposed to backgrounds of adversity.