Intervention Development and Pilot for Foster Care Youth
Condition: Child Abuse
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purpose of this study is to develop, standardize and provide a preliminary test of a
      novel intervention for preadolescent maltreated youth in out-of-home care. It is hypothesized
      that the preventive intervention, which is known as Fostering Healthy Futures (FHF) and which
      consists of therapeutic skills groups and mentoring, will improve mental health, social,
      academic and behavioral functioning and reduce youths' initiation of, and participation in,
      problem behaviors.
    

Detailed description: 
      This R21 application for a 3-year exploratory/development grant for intervention research is
      designed to develop, standardize and provide a preliminary test of a novel intervention for
      children, ages 9-11, placed in out-of-home care. Children and adolescents with a history of
      maltreatment and subsequent placement in foster care are at risk for substantial mental
      health and behavioral problems of great public health significance. In the prior longitudinal
      work with children in foster care, the investigators have described the population, examined
      child welfare system impact, and identified modifiable psychosocial risk and protective
      factors. These pre-intervention activities, supported by the principal investigator's K01
      award, have enabled the investigator to address important methodological issues that have
      hampered the development of intervention efforts targeting this high-risk population.

      Based on this pre-intervention research, feedback from focus group participants, and a review
      of other efficacious programs for high-risk youth, the investigators propose to design an
      intervention for preadolescent youth in foster care consisting of three primary components:
      assessment and advocacy, mentoring, and therapeutic skills groups. The proposed R21
      activities include developing the assessment battery and intervention protocol, manualizing
      the treatment, estimating recruitment and attrition rates, and conducting a small-scale
      randomized-controlled pilot study of the intervention. The goals of the intervention will be
      to improve mental health, social, academic and behavioral functioning and to reduce youths'
      initiation of, and participation in, problem behaviors. The investigators will conduct a
      preliminary examination of whether these proximal outcomes are moderated by baseline
      characteristics and/or mediated by the process variables targeted by the intervention.
      Estimates of effect size will be used to determine the sample size needed for adequate power
      to conduct a full-scale randomized controlled trial. The pilot study will also focus on
      issues of feasibility, program uptake, and replicability, and the investigators will modify
      the assessment battery, protocol, and manuals following the pilot phase and prior to the
      application for an R01 to conduct a large-scale efficacy trial.
    

Intervention name(s): Assessment; Fostering Healthy Futures (FHF)
Intervention type(s): Other; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Cognitive, academic achievement, and mental health screening assessment and report.; Weekly therapeutic skill groups and mentoring over a 9-month period.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Child abuse and neglect; Out-of-home care; Mentoring; Skills groups; Assessment; Functioning as a result of maltreatment and placement in out-of-home care