Alysia Longmire, MD
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
The objectives of this study included investigation of the external and internal factors that encouraged or hindered willingness or ability to participate in parental meeting as part of the Dare to Be You (DTBY) program. Vroom’s expectancy theory was used as an approach to understanding motivational factors. The primary purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the situational and motivational factors that might drive or hinder parental participation in prevention programs. A secondary purpose is to develop an assessment process and tool that could be used by program planners to help maximize parental participation. The assessment questions were designed to address the external and internal factors that encouraged or hindered parents’ willingness or ability to participate in the DTBY program. This is an exploratory descriptive study using survey methodology. The study evaluated parents that participated in the Colorado State University- Dare To Be You program in 2006. The data was obtained using the custom designed survey, Assessment of Parental Participation in the Dare to be You Program survey. Participants included all 239 parents who participated in 2006 with their children in the DTBY prevention program. The survey assessed: levels of parent participation, factors that drive or restrain participation, benefits of participating for both the child and parent, and perception of parental attitudes regarding prevention programs. A response rate of 21% was achieved with 50 of the 239 parents returning their surveys. There were no responses to report regarding factors that hindered participation. Findings of the research study conclude that parents who participated in the DTBY program had favorable attitudes regarding the benefits and effectiveness of drug prevention programs. Their active participation in the program was driven more by internal incentives relating to the benefits of the program.
