Interdisciplinary Research Leaders: Evaluating the health impact of site-based support for parents of diverse backgrounds living in public housing

The Foundation's Change Leadership Program was designed to support the applicant solicitation and selection, launch, and first year of participant activities for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's four new Leadership for Better Health programs.Further, the Foundation's Interdisciplinary Research Leaders program seeks teams of researchers and community members who are committed to working together to produce community-relevant, action-oriented research to improve health and well-being.The project aims to promote a Culture of Health by investigating the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among parents with young children living in public housing communities in Fresno, California, and examining the impact of a research-based parenting program and preventive early intervention mental health (PEI-MH). The study will have a quasi-experimental design with a mixed methods approach. The experiment will include a treatment group of young children whose parents received Abriendo Puertas: Opening Door (AP) training and PEI-MH support, and the control group will include children whose parents did not receive these services. The quantitative component will include administrative data from a local housing authority and a statewide health data system, and an ACEs parent survey. The qualitative component will include interviews with selected parents and AP/PEI-MH program staff. The findings of this study will inform policymakers on the prevalence of ACEs among low-income parents with young children and the needs of incorporating housing/anti-poverty programs within the ACE framework.