Entre dos mundos/between two worlds: An evidence-based bicultural skills training program for acculturating latino families

This chapter evaluates the efficacy of two implementation strategies for Entre Dos Mundos/Between Two Worlds, a prevention program for Latino adolescents, measured at posttest and 1 year after program completion. Using an experimental research design, 81 Latino families were randomly assigned to 2 program formats that used identical session themes: 56 families attended action-oriented bicultural skills training and 25 attended unstructured support groups. At posttest, program dosage was more important than delivery style. High dosage parents from both action-oriented groups and support groups reported higher levels of bicultural support, bicultural identity integration, and family adaptability along with lower levels of adolescent aggression and oppositional defiant behavior. At one-year follow-up, program delivery method was critical for long-term behavior change. As compared with families that received Entre Dos Mundos content through a traditional support group format, parents who attended the action-oriented groups that used psychodrama techniques reported lower rates of parent-adolescent conflict and lower rates of aggression, oppositional defiant behavior, anxious depression, and total problems in their immigrant adolescents. The 1-year follow-up showed that action-oriented groups maintained superior effects as compared to support groups. We discuss implications for practice and future research.