Year
Kinship Kits
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
2020-2021
Background
Maryvale is one of the most populated neighborhoods in the Phoenix metro area. The residents are majority Latinx and over half have an income below the poverty line.
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the mental health and well-being of individuals worldwide as we’ve dealt with fear, social isolation, and grief. However, the devastation of the pandemic has not been equal. We know that the virus has disproportionally impacted low-income communities of color far greater than others.
Additionally, the mental health needs of young children whose brains are developing during this time will supersede the availability of quality mental health services in the coming years, necessitating increasingly creative approaches to intervention.
Project Overview
This was a community based participatory research (CBPR) project in partnership with the Family Learning Center housed at Valleywise Health. The goal of the project was to encourage mental health help-seeking behaviors among Latinx families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Valleywise Health, an agency located in Maryvale, wanted to create a program that would foster a more positive relationship with families in the Maryvale community with the hopes of gaining their trust and increase use of their services during times of need.
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My aspect of the project focused on the parent-child relationship and I designed a free, four month "activity box" program for families with young children. Families enrolled in the program would receive one box per month, for four months, that contained information about child development for parents and several developmentally appropriate activities for children.
Project Design
Months 1-3
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Stakeholder interviews
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Project objectives
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Minimum viable product
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Concept testing
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Prototype development
Months 4-7
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First testing round (Cohort 1)
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Focus group feedback round
Months 7-9
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Focus group analysis
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Product iteration
Months 10-13
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Second testing round (Cohort 2)
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Focus group feedback round
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Measuring learning
Month 14
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Measuring impact
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Feedback analysis
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Survey analysis
Stakeholder Interviews with the Valleywise Behavioral Health Team to Identify Community Needs
Common child behaviors parents were most concerned about:
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Hyperactivity (e.g., acting out, can’t sit still, parents ask “is this normal behavior?”)
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Anxiety
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Defiant behavior
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Aggressive behavior
Staff’s reports on “what parents need”:
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More knowledge of child development
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Help describing and monitoring child behaviors
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Support understanding child behaviors
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Support on how to respond to child behaviors
Project Goals:​
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Increase parent knowledge of child development
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Provide parent-child bonding opportunities
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Aid parents in supporting emotional development
Kinship Kits Concept
Each kit included:
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Information about child development for parents
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Developmentally appropriate activities for kids that encouraged family involvement
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Each kit challenged both children and parents
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Children in exercising new skills
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Parents in supporting the development of these skills
Parameters
2 Cohorts
1 Activity Box
Per Month
55 Families
$28 Per Box
4 Month
Intervention
Children Ages 0-5
Concept Testing with the Parent Advisory Group to Receive Feedback & Community Buy-In
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Expressed excitement in the project overall, felt like this was a way to reach families in the community that was based on positivity versus stigma and blame.
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Wanted to make sure concepts were culturally appropriate, i.e. less focus on discipline and "time-out" since that is not as prevalent in the Latinx community.
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Concerned about making sure the concepts would be understood after the translation of the materials into Spanish.
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Suggested that in the future we include links to video explanations of the concepts which might be more appealing to some of the parents in the community.
Kit #1: Bonding through Quality Time
The goal this month is to focus on finding joy in time spent together
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Parent handouts
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Quality time handout​
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Developmental stages handout
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Activities
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Homemade play dough materials and recipe​
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Bubbles
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Runaway Bunny book
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Georgie & the Giant Germ coloring book
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Kit #2: Emotion Understanding
The goal this month is to identify positive and negative feelings with your child, and what causes them
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Parent handouts
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Feelings handout
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Feelings wheel
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Feelings understanding handout
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- Activities
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Feelings chart
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The Way I Feel book
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Listening to My Body book
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Body sketch
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Emotion masks craft materials
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Kit #3: Supporting Negative & Positive Emotions
The goal this month is to help parents support their children tolerate and cope with their negative feelings and celebrate with them when they experience positive feelings
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Parent handouts
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Supporting handout
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Tantrum handout
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Positive language handout
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Activities
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Teething ring
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Stuffed animal
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Yoga and mindfulness cards
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Kit #4: Encouraging Curiosity & Exploration
The goal this month is to focus on encouraging curiosity, creativity, and exploration
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Parent handouts
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Exploration explainer
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Squiggle game handout
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Storytelling handout
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Activities​
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Harold and the Purple Crayon book
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Edible finger paints
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Make-your-own comic book
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Seeds and pot
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Focus Group Feedback
from Families in Cohort One
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Overall, the majority of families stated that they enjoyed the intervention and that the activities provided a fun way to interact with their children.
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Although the parents did learn more about child development through the informational packets, they wished there was a more interactive component, such as a class, that would allow them to ask more questions about their specific circumstances.
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​The parents also would have liked more choices and flexibility when it came to the activities. ​
Iterations Based on Feedback
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Implemented a check-in with social workers halfway through the program
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Altered the informational packets to be more "worksheet like"
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Added alternative activity ideas and suggestions
Focus Group Feedback
from Families in Cohort Two
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Most families felt the program was a positive experience
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Families enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with their children
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Families also appreciated the flexibility of the program and the ability to incorporate their own activities
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Some parents really valued the check-in with the social worker halfway through the program while others felt pressured by the worksheets and check-in
Community Outcomes
63% of families reported an increase in knowledge of child development
51% of families reported an increase in understanding their child's emotions
46% of parents reported an increase in their ability to support their child's emotions
14% of parents reached out for further services for their children
Challenges & Lessons
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As I was creating the boxes I had to weigh the child development literature, the guidelines from the Family Learning Center at Valleywise health, and the cultural norms and beliefs of the families we were serving. For example, I had originally included a pacifier in box one, but the Family Learning Center wanted me to remove it because they believed pacifiers interfere with breast feeding. The child development research does not demonstrate any evidence of this, but I ultimately removed it from the box in order to demonstrate respect their opinions and our working relationship.
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Although it was hard to work within a limited budget to create the activity boxes, this did create parameters that ultimately led to creative solutions and building upon objects that families might already have in their houses, which made the activities more accessible to a wider audience and allowed families to repeat some of the activities in the future. If we were to scale the activity boxes this could be a way to be more inclusive and have a larger impact.
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In terms of data collection, there were a lot of factors that we had to weigh including the pandemic, the availability of the families and the translators, and the timeline, but I wish we could have gathered more data using additional methods, because I found the focus groups limiting in terms of the dynamics of the individuals as well as allowing everyone to have their say.
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The diversity of responses to various aspects of the project made it clear that one size doesn't fit all, and in the future I will have more built in options and flexibility within projects and programs, so that they can more easily be tailored to specific family or individual needs.
