Staying Strong With Schools - A School-Based Resilience Support Intervention for Military-Connected Children

Mass General Brigham

Status: Completed

Conditions: Waitlist Control; Staying Strong With Schools Intervention

Treatments: Other: Waitlist Control; Behavioral: Staying Strong with Schools Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02378051

2014P000867

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to examine whether Staying Strong With Schools, a school-based intervention to support military-connected children, will be helpful for school professionals and military parents in supporting specific needs of this population of children. As part of the partnership between three school districts in Massachusetts and the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program, the investigators will examine the efficacy of a training delivered to these schools. The schools will be randomly divided into two groups (like a toss of a coin). Half of the schools will receive the training in 2014-2015, and the other half will be waitlisted and receive the training the following year (2015-2016). All participants (school teachers, military-connected children, and their parents) will be asked to complete questionnaires the first year. The investigators hypothesize that, compared to the control schools, at the end of the school year, SSWS schools will be associated with: (1) greater sense of competence and quality of relationships with military-connected children (MCC) among school professionals; (2) lower parental distress and increased parental sense of competence and general family functioning; and (3) increased social support, and fewer academic, emotional, and behavioral problems among MCC. The investigators hypothesize that an increase in school professionals' sense of competence in identifying and handling MCC's needs, increased quality of relationships with MCC, lower parental distress, increased parental sense of competence, and increased general family functioning will mediate the efficacy of SSWS on MCC's social support and psychosocial functioning.

Enrollment: 190 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 6+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• For school teachers: age 18 or older, employed as teacher in a participating school, willingness to participate in the intervention and able to participate in the informed consent process.
• For military-connected children: age < 18, and currently in grade 1 through 6, student in a participating school, at least one parent who currently serves, or had served in the military since 9/11/01, children without a participating classroom teacher will not receive teacher-rated assessments, but will not be excluded from the school based intervention, parent gives permission for child to participate.
• For military parents: male or female, age 18 or older, parent of a child enrolled in one of the participating schools, parent or co-parent currently serves, or had served in the military since 9/11/01, parent of a military-connected child that is eligible to participate, willing to participate, and able to give informed consent, and permission to release test scores, and have their child participate in SSWS, and self-report, parental and teachers' assessments.

Exclusion criteria

• For teachers: unable to attend the initial training, unable to participate in the informed consent process.
• For military-connected children: decline participation, determination by the principal or teacher that participation would not be in the military-connected child's best interest for any reason.
• For military parents: unable to participate in the informed consent process.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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190 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

Staying Strong with Schools Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

The Staying Strong with Schools Intervention includes: (a) a training of all school professionals, and (b) a year-long training and supervision of the school guidance counselor (RSL), by a Liaison-Trainer (LT).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Staying Strong with Schools Intervention

Waitlist Control

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

The waitlist control schools will receive an educational pamphlet outlining resources useful to support military-connected children to be distributed to all educators at the beginning of the Year 1. They will then receive the Staying Strong with Schools Intervention in Year 2.

Treatment:

Other: Waitlist Control