Neighborhood Perceptions and Parent Outcomes in Family Based Prevention Programs for Thai Adolescents: The Role of Program Engagement

Abstract

Due to concerns over Thai adolescent risky behaviors, effective prevention strategies are needed. Determining the role neighborhood context plays in program engagement and outcomes may inform these strategies. This study includes 170 mother-adolescent pairs (M = 13.44, SD = .52) in Bangkok, Thailand in a prevention program for adolescent substance use and sexual risk. Neighborhoods were related to engagement, which was critical to outcomes. Neighborhood disorganization was related to confidence in program effects and program completion. Completion was related to increased ATOD communication. Neighborhood cohesion was related to less program enjoyment, while neighborhood social control was related to more enjoyment. Enjoyment was related to increased ATOD communication and formation and monitoring of alcohol rules. Prevention strategies should focus on neighborhood contexts and enhancing engagement.

Talking to Young People About Sex in South Africa: Neighborhood and Social Influences

“…Finally, while our analyses controlled for household resources, which is partly a measure of housing status (e.g., brick homes versus shacks) and therefore neighborhood socioeconomic status, a more detailed analysis of Future research should consider how the associations we found would affect intervention delivery. In one such investigation of a similar family-based substance abuse and sexual risk prevention intervention conducted with Thai mothers and adolescents, high levels of neighborhood cohesion decreased mothers' program engagement (i.e., how much they liked the intervention), which, in turn, negatively affected frequency of parent-child communication about alcohol and drugs postintervention (Byrnes et al, 2011). The same study also found neighborhood disorganization, measured in part by reports of low neighborhood safety, was associated with engagement (i.e., greater disorganization/decreased safety equals greater engagement), which, in turn, was associated with increases in parent-child communication.…”

“…It is evident from this research and the current study that systems outside the individual or family unit are important to consider in developing future interventions. Moreover, cross-cultural differences, above and beyond more typically examined issues related to measurement and content relevance, should not be overlooked when adapting interventions to non-Western settings-indeed, as Byrnes et al (2011) note, they may be even be at odds with theoretical assumptions created in the United States (Sampson, Morenoff, & Earls, 1999). Furthermore, as evidenced by De Silva and colleagues (2007), perceptions of neighborhood quality and caregiver social support and their relationship to maternal well-being are also far from universal.…”

Parentalidad y prevención de consumo de drogas: Estado de la cuestión y retos de futuro

“…han utilizado versiones adaptadas de programas desarrollados originalmente para las poblaciones norteamericanas. Un ejemplo es el Family Matters de los Estados Unidos (Bauman, Foshee, Ennett, Hicks y Pemberton, 2001;Bauman et al, 2002), que se adaptó a la población tailandesa y se implementó en Tailandia (Byrnes et al, 2011;Chamratrithirong, 2010). Otro ejemplo es el Proyecto Northlands que se ha adaptado en Croacia (West et al, 2008).…”

The Impact of Thai Family Matters on Parent–Adolescent Sexual Risk Communication Attitudes and Behaviors

“…Half of the families in the study sample were randomly assigned to the experimental condition and half to the control condition. After completing the pretest, those families randomly selected to be in the intervention condition were informed that they were invited to participate in the Thai Family Matters program (Byrnes et al, 2011). See Table 1 for the number of total households, number of household with adolescents, and number of households assigned by condition.…”