Clinical trial NCT01549561: Preventing Behavior and Health Problems in Foster Teens
Official title: Preventing Behavior and Health Problems in Foster Teens
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Parent Management Training
Keywords: behavior problems
foster care
parent training
youth skills training
Lead sponsor: Oregon Social Learning Center
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
First posted: 2012-03-09
Enrollment: 259
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 12
Maximum age (years): 16
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: The primary goal of this study is to test the efficacy of two levels of the KEEP intervention with adolescents and their foster and kin parents in the San Diego Child Welfare System.

Detailed description: The cost of child welfare services in the U.S. has been estimated at $20 billion per year. During the past decade, the number of teenagers in foster care has nearly doubled. Numerous studies have documented that these adolescents are at high-risk for developing serious problems, including substance use, participation in health-risking sexual behaviors, involvement in the juvenile justice system, serious educational problems and school drop-out, failed placements/foster care "drift" and homelessness. Yet, there is little research on the characteristics of interventions that can be used to guide the improvement of services for this vulnerable population of youngsters. The proposed study extends our previous research with adolescents referred for serious behavioral and emotional problems and research with elementary-aged children in foster care to a test of the efficacy of a preventive intervention for adolescents placed with foster and kin care providers in the San Diego County Child Welfare System. Two hundred and forty adolescents and their foster/kin care providers will participate (i.e., 60 in a foster/kin parent training only condition, 60 in a parent training plus youth skill training condition, and 120 in a casework "as usual" control condition). In addition to testing the efficacy of the two levels of intervention, the investigators propose to examine the effects of the intervention on a set of youth behavioral and health-related outcomes. Parenting mediators to be tested include positive parenting, parental supervision, and non-harsh discipline. Youth mediators are social competence, commitment to school, and knowledge about norms related to health-risking behaviors including substance use and high-risk sexual behavior. In addition, theoretical hypotheses about the effects of early risk/adversity factors to youth outcomes will be examined, and an economic analysis will be conducted to examine the relative benefits and costs associated with the two levels of intervention.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Any child between ages 12 and 16 years in relative or non-relative foster care

Exclusion Criteria:

* Only medically fragile children

Primary outcomes:
measure: Reduction in child behavior problems as assessed by the Parent Daily Report (PDR)
timeFrame: Baseline, 6 Months, 12 Months, 18 Months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Placement Disruptions from Foster Placement
timeFrame: 6 Months, 12 Months, 18 Months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: San Diego
country: United States
facility: Child and Adolescent Services Research Center
state: California
city: Eugene
country: United States
facility: Oregon Social Learning Center
state: Oregon
Study officials:
affiliation: Oregon Social Learning Center
name: Patricia Chamberlain, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Price, J., Chamberlain, P., Landsverk, J., & Reid, J. B. (2010). KEEP foster parent training intervention: Model description and effectiveness. Child and Family Social Work, 14, 233-242.