Stress interventions for immigrant parents in the United States: a scoping review protocol.

Abstract

Objective: This review will map stress interventions designed for and implemented among immigrant parents in the United States (US) according to intervention characteristics, participant characteristics, and reported outcomes and measurement tools.

Introduction: In addition to parenting stressors shared with their non-immigrant counterparts, immigrant parents also face immigration stressors. Although stress interventions can effectively manage, reduce, or prevent stress among non-immigrant populations, we know little about stress interventions designed for immigrant parents in the US. This study will be the first to explore stress interventions implemented among immigrant parents in the US.

Inclusion criteria: This scoping review will include published, peer-reviewed quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies that evaluate stress interventions designed specifically for US immigrant parents with at least 1 child under the age of 18 years. Reported interventions must include stress as a primary or secondary outcome or be labeled as a stress intervention. Stress interventions are broadly defined, with no restrictions on the type of stress targeted (eg, job, general, parenting) or the intervention's nature (ie, prevention vs. management/reduction vs. treatment).

Methods: A literature search will be conducted in ProQuest's APA PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES, CINAHL Plus (EBSCOhost), ERIC (ProQuest), Embase, MEDLINE (Ovid), International Bibliography of Social Sciences (ProQuest), and the Cochrane Library. Only English-language publications will be eligible, with no date restrictions. Retrieved titles and abstracts will be screened by at least 2 independent reviewers in duplicate. Data will be extracted using a self-developed data extraction tool. Findings will be presented in tabular or diagrammatic format, accompanied by a narrative summary.

Review registration: Open Science Framework osf.io/ec39j.