Acculturative Stress and Program Acceptability of a Parenting Program for Displaced Parents: A Mixed Methods Study

ABSTRACT Trauma-informed parenting programs for families experiencing adversity including forced migration have the potential to reduce mental health difficulties within the family system and improve child outcomes, yet few resources are available for refugee and immigrant families and even fewer programs have been contextually adapted for refugees. For many displaced parents, parenthood is accompanied by various challenges at different stages of migration. Pre- and peri-migration trauma and adversity leave parents at risk of psychopathology such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and de-pression which can interfere with effective parenting. In a post-migration context, they face additional stressors as a result of intercultural contact - acculturative stress - including the loss of social networks, poverty, and discrimination (Osman, 2016). Parenting in the Moment (PIM) is the first online parenting program for forcedly dis-placed families seeking to assist parents adjust to parenting in a new culture via evidence-based parenting practices. This study aimed to understand is to understand factors related to acceptability of the program for immigrant and refugee populations. Results indicated that PIM is culturally and generally acceptable to both immigrant and refugee populations. No significant differences were identified in acceptability between immigrant and refugees. This is preliminary evidence that parenting programs may be contextually adapted and acceptable to multiple cultural groups. Keywords: refugees, immigrants, parenting, acceptability