McHale James P, Salman-Engin Selin, Coovert Michael D
University of South Florida St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, FL.
Psychology Department, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey.
Fam Process. 2015 Dec;54(4):619-29. doi: 10.1111/famp.12147. Epub 2015 Mar 9.
This report examines effects of a coparenting intervention designed for and delivered to expectant unmarried African American mothers and fathers on observed interaction dynamics known to predict relationship adjustment. Twenty families took part in the six-session "Figuring It Out for the Child" (FIOC) dyadic intervention offered in a faith-based human services agency during the third trimester of the mother's pregnancy, and completed a postpartum booster session 1 month after the baby's arrival. Parent referrals for the FIOC program were received from a county Health Department and from OBGYNs and Pregnancy Centers in the targeted community. All intervention sessions were delivered by a trained male-female paraprofessional team whose fidelity to the FIOC manualized curriculum was independently evaluated by a team of trained analysts. At both the point of intake ("PRE") and again at an exit evaluation completed 3 months postpartum ("POST"), the mothers and fathers were videotaped as they completed two standardized "revealed differences" conflict discussions. Blinded videotapes of these sessions were evaluated using the System for Coding Interactions in Dyads. Analyses documented statistically significant improvements on 8 of 12 variables examined, with effect sizes ranging from moderate to large. Overall, 14 families demonstrated beneficial outcomes, 3 did not improve, and 3 showed some signs of decline from the point of intake. For most interaction processes, PRE to POST improvements were unrelated to degree of adherence the paraprofessional interventionists showed to the curriculum. However, better interventionist competence was related to decreases in partners' Coerciveness and Negativity and Conflict, and to smaller increases in partner Withdrawal. Implications of the work for development and delivery of community-based coparenting interventions for unmarried parents are discussed.
本报告探讨了一项为未婚非裔美国准父母设计并实施的共同养育干预措施，对已知可预测关系调整的观察到的互动动态的影响。二十个家庭参与了在母亲怀孕晚期于一家基于信仰的人类服务机构提供的为期六节的“为了孩子弄清楚”（FIOC）二元干预，并在婴儿出生后1个月完成了产后强化课程。FIOC项目的家长转介来自县卫生部门以及目标社区的妇产科医生和怀孕中心。所有干预课程均由一支经过培训的男女辅助专业人员团队授课，一组经过培训的分析师独立评估了他们对FIOC手册化课程的忠诚度。在入组时（“干预前”）以及产后3个月完成的退出评估时（“干预后”），母亲和父亲在完成两次标准化的“揭示差异”冲突讨论时被录像。使用二元互动编码系统对这些课程的盲态录像进行评估。分析记录了所检查的12个变量中的8个在统计学上有显著改善，效应大小从中度到高度不等。总体而言，14个家庭显示出有益的结果，3个没有改善，3个显示出从入组时起有一些下降的迹象。对于大多数互动过程，从干预前到干预后的改善与辅助专业干预人员对课程遵守的程度无关。然而，更好的干预人员能力与伴侣的强制性、消极性和冲突的减少以及伴侣退缩的较小增加有关。讨论了这项工作对为未婚父母开展和提供基于社区的共同养育干预措施的启示。
