FAN as a tool for rupture and repair: Emphasis on culturally-responsive, relationship-based practice
Location
D.P. Culp Center Room 311
Start Date
4-5-2024 1:30 PM
End Date
4-5-2024 2:30 PM
Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor
Diana Morelen
Faculty Sponsor's Department
Psychology
Competition Type
Competitive
Type
Oral Presentation
Presentation Category
Social Sciences
Abstract or Artist's Statement
Research has shown that children have the best outcomes when they are raised in safe, stable, and nurturing relationships within their family and community. Our society can promote better outcomes for young children and families through evidence-based prevention and intervention programs. The complex network surrounding young children and families, especially those with high psychosocial risk factors, is called the infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) workforce. The IECMH workforce is comprised of diverse professions (e.g., early childhood educators, home visitors, early interventionists, child welfare providers). Key tenets of IECMH are that they are relationship-based, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive. The field encourages providers to be culturally informed, yet there is a dearth of research on evidence-based strategies for promoting relationship-based culturally responsive skills and practices for a workforce that holds such breadths of background training (e.g., public health, social work, child development, education) and practices (ranging from prevention to intervention). The FAN (Facilitating Attuned Interactions) is an evidence-based training framework that has been shown to help diverse workforces gain greater self-regulation, have more active engagement with parents, and have greater confidence in a wider range of interactions. In 2021, FAN underwent an extensive effort to de-center western ways of knowing and doing from its curriculum culminating in the development of the Rupture and Repair Framework. This Rupture and Repair Framework outlines values and norms, guiding ground rules, and a clear process for guiding repair between individuals for whom there has been a rupture related to cultural differences. This framework supplies an opportunity to scaffold learning of self-awareness, responsibility to recognizing microaggressions, implicit bias, privileged communications, and accountability. Both the FAN and Rupture and Repair Framework support self-regulation and attunement in emotionally laden conversations that lead to increased connection and collaboration on behalf of infants, young children, and their families. This pilot study evaluated the FAN and Rupture and Repair Framework in workforce development efforts in Tennessee. Participants were IECMH workers in TN who attended this training. This program evaluation used self-reports before and after training to examine participant perceived change resulting from the training. Results from paired sample t-tests (n = 24) showed statistically significant increases in confidence in ability to engage in relational repair processes (p = .009), approach diversity-related conversations (p < .001), approach race/ethnicity-related conversations (p < .001), hold a culturally-responsive lens around rupture and repair conversations (p < .001), and prepare intentionally for a challenging conversation at work (p < .001). We found statistically significant improvements in having skills and techniques to approach hard conversations at work, understanding the connection between and understanding why it is important to hold concepts of identity, power, and privilege in mind when approaching repair conversations (p = .03). These findings provide preliminary support that this training improves culturally responsive interpersonal communication skills.
FAN as a tool for rupture and repair: Emphasis on culturally-responsive, relationship-based practice
D.P. Culp Center Room 311
Research has shown that children have the best outcomes when they are raised in safe, stable, and nurturing relationships within their family and community. Our society can promote better outcomes for young children and families through evidence-based prevention and intervention programs. The complex network surrounding young children and families, especially those with high psychosocial risk factors, is called the infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) workforce. The IECMH workforce is comprised of diverse professions (e.g., early childhood educators, home visitors, early interventionists, child welfare providers). Key tenets of IECMH are that they are relationship-based, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive. The field encourages providers to be culturally informed, yet there is a dearth of research on evidence-based strategies for promoting relationship-based culturally responsive skills and practices for a workforce that holds such breadths of background training (e.g., public health, social work, child development, education) and practices (ranging from prevention to intervention). The FAN (Facilitating Attuned Interactions) is an evidence-based training framework that has been shown to help diverse workforces gain greater self-regulation, have more active engagement with parents, and have greater confidence in a wider range of interactions. In 2021, FAN underwent an extensive effort to de-center western ways of knowing and doing from its curriculum culminating in the development of the Rupture and Repair Framework. This Rupture and Repair Framework outlines values and norms, guiding ground rules, and a clear process for guiding repair between individuals for whom there has been a rupture related to cultural differences. This framework supplies an opportunity to scaffold learning of self-awareness, responsibility to recognizing microaggressions, implicit bias, privileged communications, and accountability. Both the FAN and Rupture and Repair Framework support self-regulation and attunement in emotionally laden conversations that lead to increased connection and collaboration on behalf of infants, young children, and their families. This pilot study evaluated the FAN and Rupture and Repair Framework in workforce development efforts in Tennessee. Participants were IECMH workers in TN who attended this training. This program evaluation used self-reports before and after training to examine participant perceived change resulting from the training. Results from paired sample t-tests (n = 24) showed statistically significant increases in confidence in ability to engage in relational repair processes (p = .009), approach diversity-related conversations (p < .001), approach race/ethnicity-related conversations (p < .001), hold a culturally-responsive lens around rupture and repair conversations (p < .001), and prepare intentionally for a challenging conversation at work (p < .001). We found statistically significant improvements in having skills and techniques to approach hard conversations at work, understanding the connection between and understanding why it is important to hold concepts of identity, power, and privilege in mind when approaching repair conversations (p = .03). These findings provide preliminary support that this training improves culturally responsive interpersonal communication skills.