Training personnel to promote quality parent-child interaction in families who are homeless

This study was designed to, first, train parent-child advocates serving homeless parents and their children (birth-three) in providing one-on-one early intervention to facilitate healthy parent-child interactions and, second, evaluate the impact of training on the quality of parent-child interactions in the intervention setting. Four advocates were trained over a 20-week period. During the first 10-week training phase, advocates observed project staff members (trainers) interacting with clients in the advocate's caseload and received training on specific interaction components. During the second 10-week phase, trainers observed and gave feedback to the newly trained advocates who implemented the learned strategies with six referred clients. All parent-child advocates reported increases (from pre- to posttraining) in knowledge and competence level about ways to provide support to parents, knowledge of children's early interactive behaviors, and ability to provide feedback to parents to promote the parent-child relationship. Observations of parent-child advocate behavior with mothers during intervention sessions also revealed changes between pre- and posttraining: Advocates increased their use of positive, contingent, and instructive feedback to parents about their interactions with their young children. Finally, the mother's behavior changed from pre- to postintervention; mothers receiving intervention became more contingent, social-emotional growth fostering, and stimulating in their interactions with their children. The results and the need for further research are discussed.