The promising practice of cultural brokering support with culturally diverse families of children with developmental disabilities: Perspectives from families

Authors

Yali Pang, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
Dana V. Yarbrough, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow

Abstract

Background and Purpose: The Parent to Parent model of support has been found to be effective with supporting families of children with DD in navigating complex systems, gaining emotional support, building positive resilience, sharing ideas and learning problem solving skills. Parent to Parent ties can be particularly strong when cultural capital is involved. This study presents a cultural brokering initiative embedded in the evidence-informed Parent to Parent support model that could be a promising practice to support culturally diverse families of children with DD.

Methods: This study used a mixed methods approach to examine the practice and outcomes of a cultural brokering initiative in a statewide Parent to Parent support program in a University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities that serves culturally diverse families of children with DD. Both surveys and interviews were used to learn about these families' experiences with cultural brokering services and their perspectives on the effectiveness of these services in meeting their families' needs.

Results: The findings of this study show that cultural brokers primarily serve in the roles of listeners, interpreters, educators, liaisons and mediators when supporting culturally diverse families of children with DD, and that parents overall had a high rating of the cultural brokering service and were very satisfied with the support they received.

Implications: A cultural brokering initiative embedded in the Parent to Parent support model is a promising practice that could better support culturally diverse families of children with DD and improve the service outcomes to these families. However, service providers who want to start a cultural brokering initiative should work closely with families to decide the roles of a cultural broker, how they will offer support, and who should be a cultural broker to represent and support a particular community.

Plain Language Summary

Background and Purpose: Parent to Parent support has been found to be a good way to help families of children with developmental disabilities (DD) in 1) understanding and using disability systems, 2) feeling emotionally supported, 3) having hope for their child’s future, and 4) sharing ideas and learning problem-solving skills. Parent to Parent support can be very helpful when parents share information with other parents that is based on common language and cultural understandings of disability. This study presents a cultural brokering project used with the Parent to Parent support model that could be a promising way to help culturally diverse families of children with DD.

Methods: The cultural broker program is located in a statewide Parent to Parent program in a University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities that serves culturally diverse families of children with DD. The surveys and interviews helped us learn about what cultural brokers do, families' experiences with cultural brokering support, and if it helped them meet their families' needs.

Results: The findings of this study show that cultural brokers are listeners, interpreters, educators, connectors and go-betweens when supporting culturally diverse families of children with DD, and that parents overall were very satisfied with cultural brokering parent to parent support.

Implications: Using cultural brokering for Parent to Parent support is a promising way to help culturally diverse families of children with DD and improve families’ lives. Service providers who want to start a cultural brokering program should clearly define the roles of cultural brokers, how they will offer their help, and the cultures that should be represented by cultural brokers.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Pang, Yali and Yarbrough, Dana V. (2023) "The promising practice of cultural brokering support with culturally diverse families of children with developmental disabilities: Perspectives from families," Developmental Disabilities Network Journal: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 7.
DOI: 10.59620/2694-1104.1064
Available at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ddnj/vol3/iss1/7