Evaluation
The average score on the Parents Beyond Borders Scale increased by 7% among 16 participants in 2009 to 2010. This general finding indicated an increased ability among participants to employ new strategies to address the challenges of adapting to life in the United States and raising bicultural children.
Responses to individual statements provided valuable information about participants’ progress in this group. For example, scores increased by 36.4% in response to the statement “There is nothing I can do when people dis- criminate against me,” and by 13.2% in response to “My feelings of loss, homesickness and isolation make my life difficult,” indicating a greater ability to cope with these critical challenges that face immigrants. A 12.3% increase in average scores in response to another statement shows that the pro- gram helped participants reconcile “the values of my home country and the values here in the US.” This finding was confirmed by a 9.8% increase in response to “I am satisfied with the mix of old and new values in my fam- ily.” Finally, scores increased by 10% in response to “I feel I can successfully pass on parts of my culture to my children.” Figure 1 shows the statements where average scores increased the most, indicating in which the areas of the greatest improvement were.