Recruitment and Retention for Stepfamily Education

1
Recruitment and Retention for Stepfamily
Education

• Linda Skogrand
• Associate Professor and Extension Specialist
• Katie Henderson-Reck
• Graduate Research Assistant
• Brian Higginbotham
• Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist
• Francesca Adler-Baeder
• Associate Professor and Extension Specialist
• Loni Dansie
• Undergraduate Research Assistant

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Marriage and Relationship Education
(MRE)Targeting Stepfamilies

• If it is offered, they will come
• Recruitment and retention is a critical aspect of
  family life programming.
• Inadequate recruitment and retention strategies
  undermine the potential of programs to reach
  families and make a difference in their lives
  (Cooney, Small, OConnor, 2007).
• Attracting stepfamilies to MREs is particularly
  difficult due to additional challenges these
  families face on a daily basis (Adler-Baeder
  Higginbotham, 2004).
• In an attempt to assist MRE providers in their
  efforts to recruit and retain stepfamily
  participants, this paper establishes new, and
  verifies already existing strategies for diverse
  audiences.

3
Current Literature

• Although the MRE literature in general emphasizes
  the importance of gathering population specific
  data there is little research or best practices
  for stepfamily programs (Spoth, Redmond,
  Hackaday, Shin, 1996).
• Therefore other family life education programs
  must be used to supplement this review.

4
Barriers to Stepfamily Participation

• Perceived social stigma and the complexity of the
  family structure (e.g. Robertson et al., 2006).
• Greater stress and more difficulty with issues
  such as communication, finances, and parenting
  (Ganong Coleman, 2004).
• Low-income stepfamilies may have difficulty
  paying for the cost of programs, finding
  transportation to program sites, and securing
  childcare (Robertson et al., 2006).
• These families may not realize the unique
  characteristics of their situation and,
  therefore, may not feel they need education
  services or that there are services available to
  meet their specific needs (Adler-Baeder
  Higginbotham, 2004).

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Barriers to Family Life Participation

• Common barriers found in the family life
  education
• Time restrictions and scheduling.
• Not attending all of the provided meeting.
• Feeling the program required too much family
  time.
• Invasion of privacy.
• Not feeling the need for the intervention.
• Other family members not wanting to participate
  in the family program. (Spoth et al., 1996)

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Current Strategies used in Recruitment and
Retention

• Recruitment and retention strategies for family
  life programs, in general, are quite prevalent in
  the literature.
• Lack of empirical testing and effectiveness is
  likely contingent on characteristics of the
  target population (Cooney et al., 2007).
• What strategies work
• Programs need to gain a sense of trust with
  potential participants.
• Large institutions or government may scare
  program participants, particularly among
  ethnically diverse populations (e.g. African
  Americans and Latino populations).

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Current Strategies used in Recruitment and
Retention

• Passive or low-cost recruitment
• Flyers
• Advertisements
• Mailings
• Public Service Announcements
• Active or time-intensive recruitment
• Face-to face contact
• Trusted referral sources
• Schools
• Community centers
• Family centers

8
Current Strategies used in Recruitment and
Retention

• Provide incentives
• Cash
• Gift certificates
• Meals
• Transportation
• Grocery cards
• Child care
• Gatekeepers and community outreach
• Existing knowledge and trust within the community
• Hiring and training culturally sensitive staff,
  have low-turnover, and flexible scheduling
• None of these strategies have been validated in
  stepfamily populations.

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• Consistent with calls for more research on
  stepfamily MRE (Hughes Schroeder, 1997), the
  purpose of this study is to document successful
  stepfamily recruitment and retention strategies
  that can aid future programmatic efforts.

10
Methodology

• Smart Steps stepfamily education program
  (Adler-Baeder, 2007).
• Course lasted 12 hours, six two hour sessions.
• Ten courses were offered by established,
  community-based, family-service organizations
  during a four-month period.
• 230 adults and 222 children ages 6-17 years
  attended.

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Methodology

• Qualitative interviews
• 40 adult participants (30 English-speaking and 10
  Spanish-speaking)
• 20 facilitators (12 English-speaking and 8
  Spanish-speaking classes).
• Participants were selected by the Project Manager
  who identified couples from a list of attendees
  for each course.
• All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and
  translated if necessary.

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Analyses

• Procedures described by Bogdan and Biklen (2003)
• Researchers immersed themselves in the data to
  gain a sense of totality of the data.
• Identified coding categories in answer to the
  research question
• What strategies were most effective in recruiting
  low-income European American and Latino
  stepfamilies into a research-based stepfamily
  education program?
• Coding was done independently by each researcher
  and coding schemes were shared and agreed upon.

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Sample

• 57 of participants were female, 43 male
• 22 to 47 years of age, mean of 36 years.
• Education 9th grade to completion of graduate
  school, mean was one year post high school
  education.
• Income mean was 20,000 to 25,000.
• No statistical differences regarding gender, age,
  education, or income level between the sample and
  all other enrollees.

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Findings

• Recruitment
• - How participants heard about the course.
• - Motivation to attend the course.
• Retention
• - Incentives
• -Children
• -On-going contact

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How Participants Heard about the Course
Personal Invitation

• Personal invitation through word-of-mouth was
  found to be the most affective strategy for
  program participants. This included phone calls,
  home visits, emails, or other means of personal
  communication. Recruiting from within the agency
  and through community resources was also found to
  be affective.
• Participant
• The facilitator knew that I was part of a prior
  marriage and my husband as well. She knew we were
  together and it was something that could help us
  if we had a problem, or because we had already
  experienced all this, we could help someone else.
• Facilitator
• We went out and talked to a couple of the people
  we knew were in stepfamilies. They were the kind
  of parents that we had worked with before. They
  were very willing to participate and then they
  gave us names of their neighbors who were also in
  a stepfamily relationship. Then they gave us a
  name of their other neighbor who was another
  stepfamily. So we kind of went door to door and
  word of mouth.

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How Participants Heard about the Course Mass
Media

• Mass Media including flyers, mailings, newspaper
  advertisements and public service announcements
  was the second most cited recruitment strategy.
• Participants
• We got one of these flyers in the mail from the
  school district about a stepfamily strengthening
  class. My wife talked to me and I said,
  Absolutely, lets do it.
• Facilitators
• We also developed flyers and mailed them out to
  all the collateral agencies that we work with . .
  . . We sent flyers to them and asked them to
  distribute it to their clients and anyone else
  that they felt might be interested in the
  program. We had some facilitators go out into the
  community and post the flyers at various
  locations.
• We put posters in the community knowing where the
  Latinos frequently go, a lot of the import
  stores, the meat markets, the Spanish bakery, and
  Mexican bakeries. We gave them a pile of little
  half sheets that they can put in bags.
• I think the newspaper and the public service
  announcement really worked. I dont believe we
  had any response from our other flyers that we
  sent out. It was mainly the newspaper and the
  PSA.

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How Participants Heard about the Course Family
and Friend Referrals

• Family and friend referrals was the third most
  cited recruitment strategy. This included hearing
  about the course through their spouse, in-laws,
  neighbors, co-workers, and friends.
• Facilitator
• We had four people come . . . all because a
  participant started telling her family members.
  Once again, the Latino community is extremely
  tight, they talk to each other, they know what is
  happening. When its something new, they dont
  always want to go alone so they try to bring
  other people along with them. We got a lot of
  families that way Come on, come with me.

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Motivation to Attend the Course

• Targeting individuals who are likely to be
  motivated and interested in the content showed to
  be an important factor in stepfamily recruitment.
  
• Individuals who were self-motivated to attend the
  course did so to
• Gain information
• Solve problems and challenges within their
  stepfamily
• Create family unity.

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Desire to Gain Information

• These participants attended because of the desire
  for knowledge and information which would assist
  their families.
• Participants
• We wanted the information, we really wanted it.
• We wanted to participate in order to see what
  we could learn about stepfamilies. No one has
  actually taught us anything about this particular
  area.
• We set out to find information on stepfamilies,
  trying to learn more about what we were dealing
  with. At the same time, we felt like we were in
  a vacuum and there wasnt anybody really to talk
  to.

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Desire to Solve Problems and Challenges within
the Stepfamily

• Participants described becoming better parents,
  stepparents, dealing with challenges in their
  marriage, and dealing with exspouses as reasons
  why they attended the course.
• Participants
• I need to work on my parenting skills, getting
  more, and getting along better with the
  stepfamily.
• I decided to attend because we were going through
  a rough patch. Wed been married just about a
  year and I was beginning to wonder if the year
  was going to be the end.I wanted some ideas on
  how to cope with my stepson and how to make my
  marriage better and not allow our situation to
  destroy the relationship that I have with my
  husband.
• We thought it would be a good idea to help
  strengthen our family, to help deal with each
  other, and my ex-wife.

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Desire to Create Family Unity

• Participants expressed the desire to create
  greater family unity as a stepfamily, establish
  peace, and have greater togetherness.
• Participants
• We want both of our families to feel as important
  to us after were married as they felt before we
  were married.
• We have his, hers, and ours children living
  together and I just wanted some good ideas on how
  to make our home more peaceful.

22
Retention Incentives - Providing Meals

• Meals were provided to all participants and
  children. Participants described these meals
  appreciatively but stated that they were not
  necessary. Facilitators felt the meals
  significantly enhanced retention, especially the
  Latino classes.
• Participant
• If a meal hadnt been provided, we would have
  still attended the course, but providing the meal
  made our evening that much easier. You didnt
  have to worry about dinner, and its like a
  reward, its a treat, its nice. Its definitely
  a perk associated with the program.
• Facilitator
• We did culturally appropriate food. We went to
  all the different Mexican restaurants and
  bakeries and got food from them.

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Retention Incentives Program Supports

• A variety of program supports were utilized and
  dispersed to participants at each class and/or at
  the end of the course. Some were publicized and
  others were unannounced.
• Facilitator - Monetary support
• We paid families 10 an evening for attending,
  and we thought that was a good way to help
  motivate the parents.
• Facilitator - Prizes
• It was actually amazing how some of the men will
  win the prizes, the cut flowers for example and
  they would turn to their wife, and the wife would
  actually get emotional and say, I never get
  flowers. So it was something little, something
  that they would like.
• Participant
• My children liked the activities in the
  nursery. They were always excited about whether
  they came out with a feather or whether they came
  out with a mask or a Fruit Loop necklace, or a
  bird feeder.

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RetentionChildren

• Of the 34 interviewed participants who had
  children living in the household, 32 discussed
  having their children attend the class. The fact
  that their children could come and enjoy the
  classes too, encouraged the adults to continue
  attending.
• Participant
• I think she my daughter liked everything, she
  always wanted to come so she would not miss
  anything.
• the children were sick earlier and they still
  wanted to come.
• When one father came home late from work and the
  family was unable to attend, the father stated
• they my children were absolutely devastated.
  They were really upset that they didnt get to
  come. The kids really enjoyed it and got a lot
  out of it.
• Facilitator
• that was a big help in retaining our group. The
  kids liked it so much that they were the ones
  telling their parents, We want to come back
  we want to come to our class.

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RetentionOn-going Contact by Staff

• Another means of maintaining attendance was
  regular staff contact with participants. This
  included personal phone calls and home visits in
  order to remind participants of upcoming classes
  and to thank them for their continued
  involvement.
• Facilitators
• What actually worked the most, I believe, were
  the phone calls and the thank-you notes. There
  were a lot of comments about just knowing that we
  were constantly thinking of them. It made them
  feel a little bit more appreciated for their
  time. We were always trying to add something
  personal, something to personalize their
  particular commitment to this program.
• We also called every week to remind them, just
  wanted to make sure you remembered class tonight.
  Were looking forward to seeing you, and that
  kind of thing.

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Summary

• Findings found that program participants and
  facilitators in this study revealed several new
  strategies in recruitment and retention, as well
  as verified past strategies.
• Suggestions consistent with previous research
  includes
• Provision of incentives such as gas cards,
  childcare and dinner to minimize the costs and
  eliminate barriers.
• Utilization of community and partnering agencies,
  such as schools, counseling centers, and family
  service agencies, as important referral sources.
• Looking in-house recruiting current
  participants of other programs offered by the
  organization.

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Summary

• Novel suggestions which emerged from this study
  included
• Actively encouraging former participants to
  invite friends and family to attend the course.
• Emphasizing the interests and motivations of the
  targeted group family time, help with their
  (step)children, and family unity.
• Advertising the common stepfamily challenges and
  the promise of helpful tips and solutions.
• Marketing in the language of the target
  population and in localized areas where the
  target population will see the advertising.
• Making incentives meaningful-to adults and for
  the children.
• Building a trusting facilitator/family
  relationship (thank you cards, phone calls, and
  reminders).
• Including the entire family unit in the program.

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Conclusion

• Although there have been suggestions in the
  literature for strategies that influence
  recruitment and retention of low-income
  stepfamilies (e.g. Adler-Baeder Higginbotham,
  2004 Robertson et al., 2006) there have been few
  published studies that document effective
  strategies.
• The strategies explicated here are presented to
  the field for additional exploration and
  validation, particularly with more diverse
  samples, with the hope of moving closer towards
  best practices for stepfamily MRE.

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Questions?