Family-Based Prevention With Black and Latinx Children

Family-Based Prevention to Promote the Social-Emotional Functioning and Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors of Black & Latinx Children

The main objective of this project is to test whether providing parenting support, with an added emphasis on ethnic-racial socialization and healthy lifestyle behaviors, improves the social-emotional functioning and healthy lifestyle behaviors of Black and Latinx children.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Child Behavior; Health Behavior
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Parenting Intervention

Detailed Description

This pilot project is novel in that it (a) interweaves positive parenting practices, ethnic-racial socialization, and healthy lifestyle behaviors into a prevention program for Black and Latinx families, and (b) targets preschool-aged children using a brief, universal prevention approach, which increases potential for dissemination and scalability. The guiding hypothesis is that incorporating these components into a parenting intervention will lead to improvements in children's health as compared to a control condition. A type 1 hybrid effectiveness-implementation design is used to simultaneously test intervention effectiveness while also gathering information on intervention delivery to inform future implementation trials. The specific aims are to: (a) test the preliminary effects of a preventive intervention on the social-emotional functioning and healthy lifestyle behaviors of Black and Latinx children, (b) identify the preliminary effects of the intervention on parenting outcomes, and (c) examine potential barriers and facilitators to intervention delivery.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 80
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • South Carolina
    • Columbia, South Carolina, United States, 29208
      • University of South Carolina

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Eligible children will:

• be between the ages of 3-6 years
• identify as Black/African American or Latinx/Hispanic
• have a parent or caregiver willing to participate in the intervention that: (a) lives in the same household as the child ≥50% of the time, (b) has primary responsibility for the child, and (c) speaks English or Spanish.

Exclusion Criteria:

Consistent with typical methods associated with a universal prevention approach, there are minimal exclusion criteria. Children will be excluded who:

• have a cognitive/psychological condition that limits the child's ability to communicate
• have a physical health condition that limits the child's ability to be physically active

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention; parents will participate in a multicomponent parenting intervention	Behavioral: Parenting Intervention; parent training program with an added emphasis on ethnic-racial socialization and healthy lifestyle behaviors
No Intervention: Control; parents will receive information about healthy eating habits

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
child social-emotional functioning	Parent-reported assessment of various positive and negative child behaviors. Likert scale values range from 0 to 2, with higher values typically indicating greater dysfunctional behavior.	pre (weeks 0-2) and post intervention (weeks 6-8)
child physical activity	Time spent sedentary and in light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity each day will be collected using a waterproof accelerometer. Validated methods will be used to identify valid days and derive activity intensities.	pre (weeks 0-2) and post intervention (weeks 6-8)
child sleep	Child average nightly sleep duration and quality will be calculated from data obtained using a waterproof accelerometer.	pre (weeks 0-2) and post intervention (weeks 6-8)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
parenting practices	Parent-reported measure of different dimensions of parenting (e.g., harsh parenting, permissive parenting). Likert scale values range from 1 to 7, with higher values indicating greater dysfunctional parenting.	pre (weeks 0-2) and post intervention (weeks 6-8)
ethnic-racial socialization practices	Parent-reported measure of attitudes about and use of various ethnic-racial socialization practices. Likert scale values range from 1 to 5, with higher values indicating more positive ethnic-racial socialization attitudes and practices.	pre (weeks 0-2) and post intervention (weeks 6-8)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of South Carolina
• Collaborators: National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 5, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): January 21, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 26, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 26, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): November 1, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 22, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 21, 2026
• Last Verified: January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: randomized controlled trial; prevention; pilot study; parent training; child development; implementation trial
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Health Behavior; Child Behavior
• Other Study ID Numbers: Pro00124236; 5P20GM130420 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No