Building Early Relationship Programming Across Cultures

Abstract

Understanding the impact of culture in programming designed to help young children and families is imperative for positive outcomes. This chapter provides an overview of the importance of culture when designing programs for young children as well as the impact of cultural beliefs on early relationships and parenting. Implementation within cultures is discussed as well as methods for adapting and translating existing programs. Translation and research methods for evaluating cultural adaptations are presented, with a brief discussion of using both qualitative and quantitative methods for evaluating efficacy. Additionally, descriptions of interventions and adaptations using both quantitative and qualitative methodology that have been successfully used with parents of young children within a variety of cultures are presented.