4 - (SYM 31) Leveraging Technology to Improve the Ecologically Valid Assessment of Parent-child Interactions

The gold-standard in assessing parent-child interactions is behavioral observation, which has primarily relied on structured observations conducted within a laboratory setting with recordings later coded by research assistants. This introduces logistical barriers for families coming into the laboratory, high time and labor cost for coding, and reduced ecological validity. Beyond the methodological limitations, a greater concern is the cascade of influence that basic research has on the development of theoretical models underlying childhood psychopathology, as well as interventions intended to support children and parents. Inequitable assessment methods will undoubtedly influence biases in treatment and broader understanding of factors associated with “adaptive” and “maladaptive” behavior. With the advent and application of new, agile approaches for parent-child behavioral observation. These innovations hold significant potential to improve equity in the assessment of parent-child interactions enhance ecological validity by capturing the lived experience of families (Edwards et al., 2024; Iruka et al., 2022), and consequently inform adaptations in behavioral interventions that reflect diverse cultural norms, values, and beliefs related to child behavior.

This presentation examines the strengths and limitations of three distinct, innovative observational methodologies to assess parent-child interactions in ethnically, linguistically, and geographically diverse families of children: (1) wearable devices capturing naturalistic audio and video data in ethnically diverse families with AI-supported coding (N=28); (2) smartphone app data recording speech of everyday parent-child interactions with AI-supported coding (N=27); and (3) structured male-caregiver-child interactions via videoconferencing with live coding (N=114). Strengths and limitations of these distinct approaches are reviewed with a focus on (1) the ability to overcome logistical barriers and equitably assess diverse families, (2) cost-efficacy, overall efficiency, and ethical implications of standard, AI-supported, and live coding methods, and (3) participant feedback regarding reactivity, usability, and acceptability. The presentation concludes with a discussion of the implications for participant engagement and how to increase equity in the assessment of parent-child interactions.