Impact of a Community Health Worker (CHW) Intervention on Emotional Support, and Physical, and Mental Health of Parents of Infants and Toddlers Receiving Care at Federally Qualified Health Centers

Background: Major life adaptations in parenthood impacts parents’ emotional, physical, and mental health in the first 24 months post-delivery; interventions to improve these health outcomes are essential. The introduction of the PARENT-focused Redesign for Encounters, Newborns to Toddlers (PARENT) intervention demonstrates important efforts towards improving services and support for parents of infants and toddlers. Methods: I analyzed secondary data from a clustered randomized controlled trial study occurring from June 2019 to June 2022. I performed a bivariate analysis to examine the difference in health outcomes at 12 months post-intervention between treatment groups. I conducted a two-sample t-test to compare baseline and 12-month mean score differences for the three health outcomes assessed in the intervention and standard care group. I then evaluated if participant language preference (English or Spanish) modified the impact of the intervention. I then compared the mean score difference for each of the three health outcomes among language preference groups at baseline compared to 12-month follow-up.
Results: 785 parents were enrolled in this study, with 378 parents in the intervention and 407 in the control group. No significant differences were found in baseline demographics, including language preferences, between intervention and control groups. Baseline emotional support, physical health, and mental health were not statistically different when comparing intervention vs. control groups (Table 1). Comparing baseline to 12-month post-intervention, parents in the intervention and control groups reported lower emotional support and lower mental health scores over time (Table 2).
Considering those receiving the intervention by language preference groups and comparing baseline to 12-month post-intervention, there were no significant differences in emotional support, physical health, and mental health in Spanish-speakers. Among English-speaking parents in the intervention group, a decline in emotional support and mental health was identified between baseline and 12 months post-intervention while this same trend was not identified in Spanish speaking parents in the intervention group (Table 3).
Conclusion: The PARENT intervention may have a buffering effect on the mental health and emotional support of Spanish speaking parents when the Parent Coach is also Spanish speaking. Our results demonstrate the importance of centering community needs and providing a culturally responsive approach to care.