Facilitators’ champion behaviors for delivering an evidence‐based parenting program

Abstract

Effective implementation of parenting programs relies on multiple factors, particularly the role of facilitators who actively deliver and support the intervention. Facilitators’ champion behaviors or the efforts they make to encourage implementation, can positively impact the outcomes of these programs. The present study examined the predictors of facilitators’ champion behaviors when delivering the ACT‐Raising Safe Kids Program in public services in an upper‐middle‐income country. The sample comprised 131 facilitators from 26 municipalities in Brazil. Participants completed self‐report questionnaires addressing sociodemographic and background characteristics, self‐regulation, resource availability, and champion behaviors. A partially latent structural equation model (SEM) was used to test direct and indirect relations between these variables. To support the SEM, we also conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the psychometric properties of the instruments. The results revealed that facilitators' self‐regulation and resource availability significantly and positively predicted facilitators' personal champion behaviors, but not their public behaviors. Facilitators’ self‐regulation served as a mechanism explaining the positive relation between resource availability and personal champion behaviors. The findings highlight the relevance of facilitators’ behaviors in delivering the program to families, as well as the importance of organizational resources for intervention implementation in public services.