Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

The Truth and Reconciliation Report (2015) has documented the need for culturally relevant parenting programs within First Nations communities. First Nations families have requested parenting supports that meet their unique challenges, often within remote and rural communities. Strongest Families™ is a twelve week web-based parenting intervention that is administered with telephone support by a paraprofessional coach. This program has been modified by a First Nations research advisory group to better meet the needs of First Nations families. To determine if this program is an effective solution for First Nations communities, we will assess both how feasible and useful it is for families, by interviewing the first 15 families that complete the intervention and asking about their experiences with the program. We will also evaluate how effective the intervention is by randomly assigning 185 participants to either complete the intervention or to have access to other parenting resources. By comparing the outcomes of those that complete and do not complete the intervention, we hope to evaluate how effective the program is at reducing child behavioural concerns and parent distress. Results of this study will be used to promote the continuation of Strongest Families, and to improve parent and child mental health outcomes using a First Nations model of parenting.