Recruitment and Retention for
Stepfamily Education
Linda Skogrand
Associate Professor and Extension Specialist
Katie Henderson-Reck
Graduate Research Assistant
Brian Higginbotham
Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist
Francesca Adler-Baeder
Associate Professor and Extension Specialist
Loni Dansie
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Marriage and Relationship Education (MRE)
Targeting Stepfamilies
“If it is offered, they will come”

Recruitment and retention is a critical aspect of family life programming.

Inadequate recruitment and retention strategies undermine the potential of
programs to reach families and make a difference in their lives (Cooney,
Small, & O’Connor, 2007).

Attracting stepfamilies to MREs is particularly difficult due to additional
challenges these families face on a daily basis (Adler-Baeder &
Higginbotham, 2004).

In an attempt to assist MRE providers in their efforts to recruit and retain
stepfamily participants, this paper establishes new, and verifies already
existing strategies for diverse audiences.
Current Literature

Although the MRE literature in general
emphasizes the importance of gathering
population specific data there is little
research or best practices for stepfamily
programs (Spoth, Redmond, Hackaday, &
Shin, 1996).

Therefore other family life education
programs must be used to supplement this
review.
Barriers to Stepfamily Participation

Perceived social stigma and the complexity of the family structure
(e.g. Robertson et al., 2006).

Greater stress and more difficulty with issues such as
communication, finances, and parenting (Ganong & Coleman, 2004).

Low-income stepfamilies may have difficulty paying for the cost of
programs, finding transportation to program sites, and securing
childcare (Robertson et al., 2006).

These families may not realize the unique characteristics of their
situation and, therefore, may not feel they need education services
or that there are services available to meet their specific needs
(Adler-Baeder & Higginbotham, 2004).
Barriers to Family Life Participation

Common barriers found in the family life
education
◦ Time restrictions and scheduling.
◦ Not attending all of the provided meeting.
◦ Feeling the program required too much family
time.
◦ Invasion of privacy.
◦ Not feeling the need for the intervention.
◦ Other family members not wanting to participate
in the family program. (Spoth et al., 1996)
Current Strategies used in
Recruitment and Retention

Recruitment and retention strategies for family
life programs, in general, are quite prevalent in the
literature.

Lack of empirical testing and effectiveness is likely
contingent on characteristics of the target
population (Cooney et al., 2007).
What strategies work:
 Programs need to gain a sense of trust with
potential participants.
◦ Large institutions or government may scare program
participants, particularly among ethnically diverse
populations (e.g. African Americans and Latino
populations).
Current Strategies used in
Recruitment and Retention
◦ Passive or low-cost recruitment

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Flyers
Advertisements
Mailings
Public Service Announcements
◦ Active or time-intensive recruitment
 Face-to face contact
 Trusted referral sources
 Schools
 Community centers
 Family centers
Current Strategies used in
Recruitment and Retention

Provide incentives



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Cash
Gift certificates
Meals
Transportation
Grocery cards
Child care
Gatekeepers and community outreach
 Existing knowledge and trust within the community
 Hiring and training culturally sensitive staff, have low-turnover, and
flexible scheduling

None of these strategies have been validated in stepfamily
populations.
Consistent with calls for more research
on stepfamily MRE (Hughes & Schroeder,
1997), the purpose of this study is to
document successful stepfamily
recruitment and retention strategies that
can aid future programmatic efforts.
Methodology

Smart Steps stepfamily education program
(Adler-Baeder, 2007).
◦ Course lasted 12 hours, six two hour sessions.

Ten courses were offered by established,
community-based, family-service organizations
during a four-month period.

230 adults and 222 children ages 6-17 years
attended.
Methodology

Qualitative interviews
◦ 40 adult participants (30 English-speaking and 10 Spanishspeaking)
◦ 20 facilitators (12 English-speaking and 8 Spanish-speaking
classes).

Participants were selected by the Project Manager who
identified couples from a list of attendees for each course.

All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and translated if
necessary.
Analyses

Procedures described by Bogdan and Biklen
(2003)
◦ Researchers immersed themselves in the data to gain
a sense of totality of the data.
◦ Identified coding categories in answer to the research
question
 What strategies were most effective in recruiting low-income
European American and Latino stepfamilies into a researchbased stepfamily education program?
◦ Coding was done independently by each researcher
and coding schemes were shared and agreed upon.
Sample

57% of participants were female, 43% male

22 to 47 years of age, mean of 36 years.

Education: 9th grade to completion of graduate
school, mean was one year post high school
education.

Income mean was $20,000 to $25,000.

No statistical differences regarding gender, age,
education, or income level between the sample
and all other enrollees.
Findings
Recruitment
- How participants heard about the course.
- Motivation to attend the course.
Retention
- Incentives
-Children
-On-going contact
How Participants Heard about the
Course – Personal Invitation
Personal invitation through word-of-mouth was found to be the most affective
strategy for program participants. This included: phone calls, home visits, emails,
or other means of personal communication. Recruiting from within the agency
and through community resources was also found to be affective.
Participant:
The facilitator knew that I was part of a prior marriage and my husband as well. She
knew we were together and it was something that could help us if we had a problem,
or because we had already experienced all this, we could help someone else.
Facilitator:
We went out and talked to a couple of the people we knew were in stepfamilies. They
were the kind of parents that we had worked with before. They were very willing to
participate and then they gave us names of their neighbors who were also in a
stepfamily relationship.Then they gave us a name of their other neighbor who was
another stepfamily. So we kind of went door to door and word of mouth.
How Participants Heard about the
Course – Mass Media
Mass Media including flyers, mailings, newspaper advertisements and public service
announcements was the second most cited recruitment strategy.
Participants
We got one of these flyers in the mail from the school district about a stepfamily
strengthening class. My wife talked to me and I said, ‘Absolutely, let’s do it.’
Facilitators
We also developed flyers and mailed them out to all the collateral agencies that we work
with . . . .We sent flyers to them and asked them to distribute it to their clients and
anyone else that they felt might be interested in the program. We had some facilitators
go out into the community and post the flyers at various locations.
We put posters in the community knowing where the Latinos frequently go, a lot of the
import stores, the meat markets, the Spanish bakery, and Mexican bakeries. We gave
them a pile of little half sheets that they can put in bags.
I think the newspaper and the public service announcement really worked. I don’t believe
we had any response from our other flyers that we sent out. It was mainly the
newspaper and the PSA.
How Participants Heard about the
Course – Family and Friend Referrals
Family and friend referrals was the third most cited
recruitment strategy. This included hearing about the course
through their spouse, in-laws, neighbors, co-workers, and
friends.
Facilitator
We had four people come . . . all because a participant started telling
her family members. Once again, the Latino community is
extremely tight, they talk to each other, they know what is
happening. When it’s something new, they don’t always want to go
alone so they try to bring other people along with them. We got a
lot of families that way: “Come on, come with me.”
Motivation to Attend the Course
Targeting individuals who are likely to be
motivated and interested in the content
showed to be an important factor in
stepfamily recruitment.
Individuals who were self-motivated to attend
the course did so to:
1. Gain information
2. Solve problems and challenges within their
stepfamily
3. Create family unity.
Desire to Gain Information
These participants attended because of the desire for
knowledge and information which would assist their families.
Participants
We wanted the information, we really wanted it.
[We wanted to participate in order] to see what we could learn
about [step]families. No one has actually taught us anything
about this particular area.
We set out to find information on stepfamilies, trying to learn more
about what we were dealing with. At the same time, we felt like
we were in a vacuum and there wasn’t anybody really to talk to.
Desire to Solve Problems and Challenges
within the Stepfamily
Participants described becoming better parents, stepparents, dealing
with challenges in their marriage, and dealing with exspouses as
reasons why they attended the course.
Participants:
I need to work on my parenting skills, getting more, and getting along better
[ with the stepfamily].
I decided to attend because we were going through a rough patch.We’d
been married just about a year and I was beginning to wonder if the
year was going to be the end….[I wanted] some ideas on how to cope
with my stepson and how to make my marriage better and not allow our
situation to destroy the relationship that I have with my husband.
We thought it would be a good idea to help strengthen our family, to help
deal with each other, and my ex-wife.
Desire to Create Family Unity
Participants expressed the desire to create greater
family unity as a stepfamily, establish peace, and
have greater togetherness.
Participants:
We want both of our families to feel as important to us
after we’re married as they felt before we were
married.
We have his, hers, and ours [children] living together
and I just wanted some good ideas on how to make
our home more peaceful.
Retention:
Incentives - Providing Meals
Meals were provided to all participants and children.
Participants described these meals appreciatively but stated
that they were not necessary. Facilitators felt the meals
significantly enhanced retention, especially the Latino classes.
Participant
If a meal hadn’t been provided, we would have still attended the
course, but providing the meal made our evening that much
easier.You didn’t have to worry about dinner, and it’s like a reward,
it’s a treat, it’s nice. It’s definitely a perk associated with the
program.
Facilitator
We did culturally appropriate food. We went to all the different
Mexican restaurants and bakeries and got food from them.
Retention:
Incentives – Program Supports
A variety of program supports were utilized and dispersed to participants at
each class and/or at the end of the course. Some were publicized and
others were unannounced.
Facilitator - Monetary support
We paid families $10 an evening for attending, and we thought that was a good
way to help motivate the parents.
Facilitator - Prizes
It was actually amazing how some of the men will win the prizes, the cut flowers
[for example] and they would turn to their wife, and the wife would actually get
emotional and say, “I never get flowers.” So it was something little, something that
they would like.
Participant
[My children] liked the activities in the nursery. They were always excited about
whether they came out with a feather or whether they came out with a mask or
a Fruit Loop necklace, or a bird feeder.
Retention:
Children
Of the 34 interviewed participants who had children living in the household, 32 discussed
having their children attend the class. The fact that their children could come and enjoy
the classes too, encouraged the adults to continue attending.
Participant
I think she [my daughter] liked everything, she always wanted to come so she would not miss
anything.
…[the children] were sick earlier and they still wanted to come.
When one father came home late from work and the family was unable to attend, the father
stated:
…they [my children] were absolutely devastated. They were really upset that they didn’t get to come.
The kids really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it.
Facilitator
…that was a big help in retaining our group. The kids liked it so much that they were the ones telling
their parents, ‘ We want to come back; we want to come to our class.’
Retention:
On-going Contact by Staff
Another means of maintaining attendance was regular staff
contact with participants. This included personal phone calls
and home visits in order to remind participants of upcoming
classes and to thank them for their continued involvement.
Facilitators
What actually worked the most, I believe, were the phone calls and
the thank-you notes. There were a lot of comments about just
knowing that we were constantly thinking of them. It made them
feel a little bit more appreciated for their time. We were always
trying to add something personal, something to personalize their
particular commitment to this program.
We also called every week to remind them, “just wanted to make
sure you remembered class tonight. We’re looking forward to
seeing you,” and that kind of thing.
Summary
Findings found that program participants and facilitators
in this study revealed several new strategies in
recruitment and retention, as well as verified past
strategies.
Suggestions consistent with previous research includes:
1. Provision of incentives such as gas cards, childcare
and dinner to minimize the costs and eliminate
barriers.
2. Utilization of community and partnering agencies,
such as schools, counseling centers, and family
service agencies, as important referral sources.
3. Looking “in-house” – recruiting current participants
of other programs offered by the organization.
Summary
Novel suggestions which emerged from this study included:
1.
Actively encouraging former participants to invite friends
and family to attend the course.
2.
Emphasizing the interests and motivations of the targeted
group: family time, help with their (step)children, and family
unity.
3.
Advertising the common stepfamily challenges and the
promise of helpful tips and solutions.
4.
Marketing in the language of the target population and in
localized areas where the target population will see the
advertising.
5.
Making incentives meaningful-to adults and for the
children.
6.
Building a trusting facilitator/family relationship (thank you
cards, phone calls, and reminders).
7.
Including the entire family unit in the program.
Conclusion

Although there have been suggestions in the
literature for strategies that influence recruitment
and retention of low-income stepfamilies (e.g.
Adler-Baeder & Higginbotham, 2004; Robertson
et al., 2006) there have been few published
studies that document effective strategies.

The strategies explicated here are presented to
the field for additional exploration and validation,
particularly with more diverse samples, with the
hope of moving closer towards best practices for
stepfamily MRE.
Questions?