Prevention Program for Problem Behaviors in Girls in Foster Care

Oregon Social Learning Center

Status: Completed

Conditions: Juvenile Justice Involvement; Drug Abuse

Treatments: Behavioral: Middle School Success Intervention (MSS)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT00239837

R21DA027091 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

R01MH054257 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study will determine the efficacy of a parent-involved intervention in preventing problem behavior in middle school girls who are currently in foster care.

Full description

The transition from elementary school to middle school presents a complex set of challenges for adolescents. These include increased expectations for time management and self-monitoring, renegotiation of rules and boundaries with parents, increased peer influence, and pubertal changes. For children in foster care, this transition is further complicated by issues such as a possible history of maltreatment, unpredictable changes in their living situations, and difficulty explaining their foster care background to peers and teachers. Such issues may be more serious for girls in foster care. Social problems for these girls in middle school can lead to a number of negative effects, including delinquency, substance abuse, poor school performance, mental health problems, and participation in risky sexual behavior. Despite such risks, adolescent girls are less likely to receive specialty mental health or school-based services than their male counterparts. This study is aimed at determining the effectiveness of a preventive intervention for preadolescent girls living in foster/kinship care. The intervention targets include preventing delinquency, initiation of substance use, participation in risky sexual behavior, school truancy and failure, and mental health problems.

Participants were randomly assigned to receive either the preventive intervention or usual foster care services in the summer before entering middle school (typically sixth grade). The preventive intervention consisted of weekly training and support sessions for both participants and their foster or kin parents. The sessions began at study start and continued throughout participants' first year in middle school. Participants' relationship development, delinquency, school behavior and performance, sexual behavior, and substance use were assessed through questionnaires. Parenting practices were assessed through interviews. Assessments were conducted at study entry and at Months 6, 12, and 24, and 36. A new, follow-up assessment on the girls' decision making was conducted at age 14-16.

Enrollment: 100 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 10 to 12 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Living in a foster home or receiving kinship care
• Are about to enter middle school
• Oregon resident
• Guardian willing to provide informed consent
• Female

Exclusion criteria

• male
• not in foster care
• not living in Oregon

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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100 participants in 2 patient groups

Middle School Success Intervention (MSS)

Experimental group

Description:

Middle School Success Intervention (MSS): Participants receive the preventative intervention

Treatment:

Behavioral: Middle School Success Intervention (MSS)

Foster Care Services as Usual

No Intervention group

Description:

Foster Care Services as Usual: Participants continue with usual foster care