6-Year Follow-up of a Prevention Program for Bereaved Families

Arizona State University (ASU)

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 3

Conditions: Mental Disorders Diagnosed in Childhood

Treatments: Behavioral: Family Bereavement Program; Behavioral: Self- study comparison group

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT01008189

R01MH049155 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Six-years following participation in the Family Bereavement Program (FBP) participants in the program as compared to a self-study control group will have lower levels of mental health problems, lower one-year prevalence of mental disorder that meets diagnostic criteria, lower use of substances, higher levels of competence at achieving developmentally appropriate tasks in academic achievement and social competence, and better self-esteem. The effects of the FBP will be moderated by baseline levels of mental health problems and gender. Bereaved caregivers who participated in the program will also show lower levels of mental health problems as compared with controls.

Program effects will be mediated by theoretical mediators targeted by the program.

Enrollment: 244 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 8 to 16 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Experienced parental death in prior 30 months
• Youth age 8-16 years old

Exclusion criteria

• Not currently in other treatment for mental health problems
• Caregiver not meet criteria for clinical depression
• Youth not meet criteria for externalizing problems
• Not currently suicidal

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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244 participants in 2 patient groups

Self study comparison group

Active Comparator group

Description:

Caregivers and children and adolescents each received three books about coping with grief after the death of a loved one and a syllabus to guide reading

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self- study comparison group

Family Bereavement Program

Experimental group

Description:

12- session group for caregivers and bereaved children and adolescents plus 2 individual sessions

Treatment:

Behavioral: Family Bereavement Program