Cultural Adaptation of a Prevention Program for Korean American Parents of Adolescents

Asian American (AA) adolescents experience significant mental health concerns that are often overlooked and masked by cultural values. Due to the intergenerational cultural conflict caused by the acculturation gap between parents and their children, second-generation AA’s are particularly vulnerable to poor psychological outcomes and low utilization of mental health services. While there are existing programs targeting mental health problems by promoting parent-child relationships, a culturally adapted web-based parent training program for first-generation Korean American (KA) parents of second-generation adolescents does not exist. To address this gap in the literature, the present dissertation describes two studies that aimed to culturally adapt two existing parent training programs for first-generation KA parents of teens.   In Study 1, KA parents participated in two semi-structured focus groups to gather feedback after reviewing the initial Korean Family Communications (KFC) Program manual and the subsequent revised manual. Additionally, researchers consulted with a community KA mental health professional to best incorporate the focus group feedback. The Korean Family Communications manual was revised according to feedback. In Study 2, The KFC Program was piloted to a sample of 11 KA parents. Results demonstrated that the program was accepted and well-received by KA parents.