The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #48813

Pamela Martin, PhD, Program for Research on Black Americans, University of Michigan, 426 Thompson Street, P.O. 1248, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248, Lee Bell, Neighborhood Roundtable and Youth Violence Prevention Project, 877 E. Fifth Avenue, Flint, MI 48503, and Cleopatra Howard Caldwell, PhD, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 1420 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, 734-647-3176, martinpp@umich.edu.

Several family factors have been identified as being consistently important for prevention across studies of youth substance use, violent behavior, and early sexual initiation. Yet, few preventive interventions target family members for inclusion in interventions designed to address youth health compromising behaviors. Those that do use a family-centered approach often focus on involving mothers only and note the difficulty of recruiting and retaining family members in youth prevention programs (Harachi, Catalano, & Hawkins, 1997; McCurdy & Daro, 2001). Recently, more attention has been given to involving fathers in intervention efforts designed to enhance their parenting skills. Further, interventions concerned with ethnic youth often incorporate culturally relevant components in efforts to address complex risk behaviors that can be influenced by the nature of race relations in this society. The purpose of this paper is to describe the components of the Fathers and Sons Program, including strategies used for recruitment and the specific content areas covered in the program curriculum. Special attention will be given to the culturally relevant aspects of the program and components determined to be especially important for non-resident African American fathers and sons. These include a focus on issues of cultural awareness, enhancing ethnic pride, racial identity development, and racial socialization as a coping strategy within families. The relationship between intervention activities and specific components of the intervention’s conceptual model will be delineated. The implications of the content areas included for other interventions with African American families will be discussed.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session participants will

• Recognize the importance of the community-based participatory research approach for preventive interventions with African American families.
• Be able to link theory to practice in working with African American fathers and sons.
• Appreciate the challenges involved in evaluating community-based interventions.

Keywords: Culture, Intervention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.