Effectiveness of a Digital Strategy-based Educational Skills Group for Secondary Students With Organization and Academic Motivation Challenges (STAND-G)

Seattle Children's Healthcare System

Status and phase: Unknown; Phase 3; Phase 2

Conditions: ADHD

Treatments: Behavioral: BPT/OST; Behavioral: Peer Support

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05386251

00003308

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness of a telehealth-delivered skills training versus active control group for middle and high school students with ADHD symptoms. Both programs will be delivered digitally (via Zoom).

Investigators will measure student functioning at baseline, post-group, and three-month follow-up. The primary outcomes are ADHD symptoms, student grade point average, and attendance as reported in the gradebook. Secondary outcomes include parent academic support, autonomy, academic motivation, and organization skills. Participant satisfaction with the group will be measured post-group. Group attendance and homework completion will also be measured.

Full description

120 middle and high school students with elevated ADHD symptoms will be recruited for this study, which will take place over the course of the 2021-2022 academic year. The recruitment strategy will be to distribute information about the study opportunity to educator email lists in South Florida (see appended email template). Educators will be instructed to share information about the study to the parents of students who perceive to experience ADHD symptoms in their schools, regardless of special education status or documentation of a disability.

Students who enroll will be randomly assigned to either receive the STAND-G strategy-based group or a peer-support-based, active control group. Investigators will blind participants and their parents to which group is the active treatment by informing parents and students that participant will be randomly assigned to one of two groups to help improve school difficulties in youth. The two groups will be of equal duration, both will be led by the same instructors; and will differ only in content (teaching strategies vs. facilitating peer support and problem-solving conversations).

Students (and their parents) will complete assessments at baseline, post-group, and three months post-group. School records will be obtained for all time points.

Enrollment: 120 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 11 to 17 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Students will be required to,

• be in the sixth through twelfth grade,
• have elevated ADHD symptoms
• documented impairment according to the SNAP
• documented impairment according to Impairment Rating Scale.
• Students must be 17.5 or younger at the time of enrollment to ensure that they are still under 18 at the expected completion of the study.

Parents of eligible students will also participate.

Exclusion criteria

Students may not be,

• in a self-contained special education classroom,
• possess intellectual disability
• be non-English speaking
• be older than 18 years old at time of enrollment

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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120 participants in 2 patient groups

Behavioral Parent Training/Organization Skills Training

Experimental group

Description:

Parents will receive 8 weeks of a 90 minute behavioral parent training protocol that focuses on supporting academic and behavioral success in adolescents with ADHD. Teens will receive a simultaneous 8 weeks of a 90 minute organization skills training group. Both groups will be delivered via telehealth.

Treatment:

Behavioral: BPT/OST

Peer support

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Parents and teens will each participate in 8 weeks of a 90 minute peer support group focused on exchange of shared experience and group problem-solving difficulties. Both groups will be delivered via telehealth.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Peer Support