The Statewide Network Among Partners for Parents/Caregivers

Background:

The Statewide Network, funded by The Office of Population Affairs, is executing a three-year innovation and impact strategy to develop, test, and disseminate effective parenting and caregiver interventions that help reduce teen pregnancy, STIs, and related risks in Georgia. The Health Promotion Resource Center at Morehouse School of Medicine selected the “caregiver” priority for this project to make a more significant impact with those who nurture and care for teens to achieve optimal adolescent health and reduce sexual and related risk behavior.

Program background:

The goals of the Network are: 1) Increase understanding of the relationship between caregiver/parent-child relationships and teen pregnancy, STIs, sexual risk behavior, and related risk. 2) Increase the number of evidence-based caregiver/parent interventions for reducing teen pregnancy, STIs, sexual and related risk behavior. The community of Partners in the Network includes Planning and Search led by Clayton County Health District; Creative Development led by ThinkTwice Institute and Innovation Learning Lab for Population Health at MSM; Evaluation led by Tressa Tucker and Associates, LLC; Dissemination led by Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital; and Community Engagement led by Good Deeds Ministries. Through the network, parents and caregivers participate in six innovations structured as curricula, parenting practices, apps, and a parent toolkit. Their participation helps to increase understanding of the relationship between caregiver/parent-child relationships and the number of evidence-based caregiver/parent interventions.

Evaluation Methods and Results:

The Network participated in process evaluation throughout the project. This involved collecting qualitative data from Network Partners, Innovation Partners, and parents/caregivers. Additionally, each of the innovations were evaluated. Youth and parents/caregivers were included in the process as workgroup members on each of the four committees who review interventions, contribute to the design, and provide feedback. Participant engagement and feedback was also solicited through PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) cycles during testing and evaluation. Contributions, feedback, and oversight are on-going. Five of the interventions are currently in Phase II evaluation, which includes survey data and feedback from more than 500 parents and caregivers in the state of Georgia. Analysis is ongoing. Preliminary results should be available to share at the conference.

Conclusions:

By hosting hybrid events, the Statewide Network learned that community partners benefit from attending regular and annual meetings on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Trauma-Informed Care, Resilience, etc. and they foster opportunities for valuable learning. Training and support for network partners on technology and electronic engagement helped to increase meeting attendance and decrease complications with recruitment during the pandemic. The Network expanded due to leveraging partnerships and including unconventional partners.

Implications for research and/or practice:

During planning, it is important to consider and include rural populations and communities for projects and events centered in metropolitan cities to ensure equity and representation.