Behavioral Economics and Parent Participation in an Evidence-Based Parenting Program at Scale

Zoelene Hill,Michelle Spiegel,Spring Dawson-Mcclure,Kai-Ama Hamer,Lisa Gennetian,Laurie Brotman

doi:10.1007/s11121-021-01249-0

Abstract

Evidence-based and culturally relevant parenting programs strengthen adults’ capacity to support children’s health and development. Optimizing parent participation in programs implemented at scale is a prevailing challenge. Our collaborative team of program developers, implementers, and researchers applied insights from the field of behavioral economics (BE) to support parent participation in ParentCorps—a family-centered program delivered as an enhancement to pre-kindergarten—as it scaled in a large urban school district. We designed a bundle of BE-infused parent outreach materials and successfully showed their feasibility in site-level randomized pilot implementation. The site-level study did not show a statistically significant impact on family attendance. A sub-study with a family-level randomization design showed that varying the delivery time of BE-infused digital outreach significantly increased the likelihood of families attending the parenting program. Lessons on the potential value of a BE-infused approach to support outreach and engagement in parenting programs are discussed in the context of scaling up efforts.

Highlights

Supporting caregivers as children transition to preschool is increasingly recognized as a strategy to support children’s development and to reduce socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities therein (Brotman et al, 2011; Dawson-McClure et al, 2017; Gross et al, 2009; Reid et al, 2001)
We document how behavioral economics (BE) concepts were translated into concrete outreach materials and strategies for use in a parenting program as it scaled up in a large urban school district, and we measure the influence of testable components of the BE-infused strategies on parent participation
Among the BEinfused sites, one site chose not to participate in the feasibility study and another site did not agree to the text messages; the current study focuses on the four sites with the full set of BE-infused outreach strategies and the five sites with core outreach materials that launched the ParentCorps parenting program in winter 2018

Summary

Introduction

Supporting caregivers as children transition to preschool is increasingly recognized as a strategy to support children’s development and to reduce socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities therein (Brotman et al, 2011; Dawson-McClure et al, 2017; Gross et al, 2009; Reid et al, 2001). The BE perspective contributes to conceptual and empirical work on family engagement in evidence-based parenting programs in two ways It situates parents as key decision-makers who are influenced by their social, psychological, economic, and historical contexts. BE moves beyond the focus on one big decision such as “did a family attend the program?” to an understanding of the sequence of interrelated decisions that collectively contribute to observed behavior It expands on existing theories by challenging the idea that parents consistently act in ways that reflect carefully constructed intentions or pre-existing values about a behavior (e.g., participating in a parenting program) absent their circumstances and historical experiences

Methods

Results

Conclusion