Transforming Parent-Child Relationships: Culturally Adapted Transactional Analysis Curriculum for Positive Parenting Training for Chinese-Speaking Parents in San Francisco Chinatown

Abstract

Social Innovation Rationale: Chinese American immigrant children in San Francisco, California, face a heightened risk of depression compared to their White counterparts, and accessing mental health services has proved challenging. Inadequate parent–child interaction emerged as one reason for this disparity. To address this issue, a community-supported continuous quality improvement project was undertaken to develop a culturally adapted transactional analysis curriculum (CATAC) for Chinese-speaking immigrant parents. CATAC aims to empower parents with the knowledge and skills to support their children’s mental health by helping them understand ego states, addressing critical parenting, promoting positive behaviors, and fostering family communication. Methods: This project employed a mixed-methods approach, including a pretest and posttest survey design, to evaluate the effectiveness of CATAC. The sample featured 10 first-generation immigrant mothers from mainland China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, selected based on their Mandarin language proficiency. Data collection included pretest and posttest surveys and focus group discussions in Mandarin. Results: Evaluation data revealed that implementing CATAC pilot modules significantly improved participants’ understanding of transactional analysis and their satisfaction with the training. Initially, participants demonstrated limited knowledge in the pretest survey, but posttest survey results indicated substantial improvements in their comprehension of learning objectives. The focus group discussions provided valuable insights into participants’ learning experiences and generated recommendations for curriculum enhancement. Conclusions: Despite the project limitations, CATAC exhibited promising potential in addressing mental health disparities and enhancing parent–child interactions among Chinese immigrant families. However, further study is necessary to assess its effectiveness and measure behavioral outcomes comprehensively.