Predictors of commitment to home visitation program among African American sample.
Open Access
- Author:
- Chin, Fumiyuki
- Graduate Program:
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- March 16, 2010
- Committee Members:
- Douglas Michael Teti, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Douglas Michael Teti, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- African American
commitment
early intervention
home visitation - Abstract:
- Parental commitment to early intervention plays a significant role in the extent to which children benefit from the program. Understanding the predictors of parental commitment to early intervention is important if one is interested in maximizing parental involvement. The present study examined predictors of parental commitment to early intervention using a sample of 138 low-income African American mothers that participated in a home visiting intervention program aimed at promoting the development of their preterm infants and the parent-infant relationship. The participants were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. Both intervention and control mothers received a home visiting program, and thus commitment to home visiting was able to be assessed in both groups. Predictors of commitment included sociodemographic variables, infant medical variables, and parents’ state of mind regarding attachment, which was assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Commitment was assessed in three ways: marker measures of general involvement, interventionists' ratings of overall parental commitment, and parents’ engagement with the intervention activities. Higher socioeconomic risk was associated with lower commitment regardless of group status. In contrast, higher infant medical risk was associated with lower commitment only for the control group. Autonomous mothers were found to be more committed to intervention compared to non-autonomous mothers; however, this was only seen in the intervention group. Multiple regression analyses revealed that when socioeconomic risk and maternal attachment status were used as predictors, only socioeconomic risk significantly predicted commitment. The results suggest that socioeconomic risk is a major obstacle for parental commitment to intervention. It is likely that autonomous parents were more encouraged to participate in the present intervention because of the content of the program that was congruent with their values and needs. The present study underscores the importance of understanding how intervention programs can be tailored to improve levels of involvement from the participants who are at high-risk for low commitment.