Implementing a Community-Based, Service-Coordination, and Delivery Intervention with Urban, Minority Parents

Background:

Research suggests that urban, minority parents seek formal agency services at lower rates than non-minority parents. Other evidence indicates the frequent use of informal supports (e.g., family, friends, neighbors) by urban, minority parents to help them meet their psychosocial needs. Yet to date, little is known about how urban, minority parents respond to practice interventions that combine both formal agency services and informal community supports, and how such interventions influence their well-being. Thus, the purpose of this pilot study was to implement and evaluate a community-based, service-coordination and delivery intervention (CONNECT Program), specifically designed for urban, minority parents from one community in a large, east-coast city. CONNECT incorporates principles from social capital theory and asset-based youth development and combines the strengths of both formal service-provider networks (i.e., local human services consortium) and informal helping networks in the community (i.e., family, friends, and neighbors). The intervention used peer outreach workers to engage urban, minority parents in a variety of human services and community supports through referrals that were monitored and tracked, as well as to provide psycho-educational information to address parents’ needs. Four research questions guided this pilot study: Does the CONNECT Program influence urban, minority parents’ a) human capital (i.e., educational level and health status); b) financial capital (i.e., household income and employment); c) community social capital (i.e., community trust and connectedness); and d) service utilization (i.e., service use and problem resolution)?

Methods:

This mixed-methods study used a pretest-posttest, single-group design and purposive sampling to recruit 80 CONNECT participants from four community centers and to follow them over the 12-month intervention. Researchers administered a 45-minute, face-to-face, semi-structured interview at baseline and 12 months to assess parents’ demographics, human capital, financial capital, community social capital, and service utilization. Qualitative assessments using eight focus groups/town hall meetings (with samples ranging from 12-40 parents), prolonged engagement, and member checks were also performed. Paired-samples t-tests (or McNemar’s tests) were used to compare baseline and outcome variables.

Results:

Quantitative results indicate a significant increase in parents’ educational level between baseline (M=3.53, SD=1.23) and follow-up (M=3.98, SD=0.99; t[48]=-3.21, p = 0.002). A significant increase was also found in parents’ perceptions of neighborhood trust between baseline (M=5.02, SD=2.85) and follow-up (M=6.59, SD=1.86; t[48]=-3.55, p = 0.001). There was a significant increase in parents’ formal agency service use over the previous 3 months between baseline (M=0.76, SD=0.42) and follow-up (M=1.00, SD=0.00; t[48]=-3.73, p = 0.001). There was also a significant increase in parents’ perceptions that their presenting problem had been resolved between baseline (M=0.29, SD=0.46) and follow-up (M=0.53, SD=0.51; t[37]=-2.69, p = 0.022). Qualitative findings supported and extended quantitative results, offering input on rapport-building approaches, social obstacles to care, and service use practices.

Conclusions:

The CONNECT intervention was associated with higher human and community social capital as well as service utilization outcomes. Findings offer valuable information on relationship-building approaches and service utilization practices for community-based interventions with urban, minority parents. Consistency, follow-through, leveraging community informal supports, and peer outreach are important practice considerations with this population.