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Using a Brief Multimedia Educational Intervention to Strengthen Young Children’s Feelings while Visiting Jailed Parents

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Abstract

The significant number of annual US jail admissions is intricately tied to the increasing population of children with incarcerated parents. Some proportion of these children will visit their parents in jail, and the limited research linking visits to young children’s well-being is mixed. Sesame Street developed multimedia educational materials to support young children with incarcerated parents, including specific messages around visiting. The educational materials have been found to positively shape how caregivers talk to children about parental incarceration, though a gap remains regarding young children’s self-reported experiences. In a preliminary randomized efficacy trial of these educational materials, the current study examined 67 young children’s (aged 3–8) self-reported feelings while at the jail following viewing of the video materials, including their feelings about their caregivers, incarcerated parents, families, and visiting in general. Data were collected when children arrived at the jail (before half were randomized to watch the intervention materials) and then again following the intervention. In the treatment group, the proportion of children reporting positive feelings increased from pre- to post-test, most saliently for feelings about families, while feelings decreased overall for those in the control group. The intervention was associated with positive feelings about family, especially for those children who were told developmentally appropriate information about the parent’s incarceration prior to arrival at the jail. The exploratory findings shed light on young children’s emotions when visiting parents in jail and the buffering role that intervention materials can have in offering support to help manage feelings during jail visits.

Highlights

  • Exploratory findings suggest that the intervention was associated with positive changes in self-reported feelings for young children visiting parents at jail.

  • Feelings about family were most significantly strengthened for young children following the multimedia intervention at jail.

  • Strengthened feelings about family were most robust for children given developmentally appropriate information about the incarceration.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants from the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at the University of Wisconsin (PI: Poehlmann-Tynan) and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of Minnesota (PI: Shlafer), as well as a center grant from the National Institutes of Health that funds the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (P30HD03352, PI: Mailick). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Special thanks to Racine, Dane, Washington, and Dakota County Sheriff’s offices and jail staff for their support of the project; to Beverlee Baker and Mary Huser from the University of Wisconsin–Extension for their support of the project; to numerous undergraduate and graduate students for assistance with data collection and coding; and to the families who participated in this research.

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  1. Luke Muentner

    Present address: RTI International, Corrections and Reentry Research Program, 3040 E. Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, 717 Delaware St SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55414, USA

    Luke Muentner & Rebecca Shlafer

  2. Human Development and Family Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1300 Linden Dr, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Kaitlyn Pritzl & Julie Poehlmann

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  1. Luke Muentner
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Correspondence to Luke Muentner.

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Ethical Approval

All research protocols were approved by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota Institutional Review Boards (Protocol: Sesame Street Materials: Using Developmentally Appropriate Educational Materials to Improve Child Behavioral Health and Family Relationships when Parents Are in Jail).

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Participation in the study was completely voluntary; all jailed parents and caregivers provided written consent for their own and their children’s participation in the research and all children offered verbal assent.

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Muentner, L., Pritzl, K., Shlafer, R. et al. Using a Brief Multimedia Educational Intervention to Strengthen Young Children’s Feelings while Visiting Jailed Parents. J Child Fam Stud 32, 3786–3799 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02656-3

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