Violence Prevention for Middle School Boys

Northeastern University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Intimate Partner Violence

Treatments: Behavioral: Project STRONG

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03109184

504616

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study will develop and test a web-based intervention to enhance emotion regulation skills and parent-son relationship communication to decrease adolescent boys' risk for dating violence involvement as well as attitudes supporting relationship aggression.

Full description

Over the past ten years dating violence (DV) has been recognized as a significant public health problem affecting adolescents. Emerging data suggest that boys and girls have different developmental trajectories toward violence and therefore prevention programs that target their unique pathways to DV are needed. Despite this need, there is a relative dearth of such gender-informed programs for early adolescent boys. This research project aims to prevent the emergence of DV perpetration/ victimization among boys by developing a web-based intervention that is informed by research on gender-specific pathways to violence and harnesses the influence of parents during the early adolescent years.

Among boys, the perpetration of delinquency-related violence and attitudes supporting violence has been found to predict later perpetration of DV. Thus, gender-informed interventions designed to prevent DV in boys need to target skills that underlie violent behavior and attitudes. The goal of this study is to develop and test a web-based intervention to enhance emotion regulation skills and parent-son relationship communication to prevent DV.

Development and testing will occur in three phases. In the Development Phase, the intervention modules will be developed and iteratively reviewed by both a panel of experts familiar with the research in the field as well as an advisory group of parents and teens from the target population. In the Acceptability Testing Phase, testing will be conducted to assess acceptability and feasibility, and this will be followed by revisions to the intervention program based on feedback and observations. During the Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) Phase, 120 families will complete the intervention program in an observed setting, to ensure fidelity to intervention dosing. Parents and adolescents will complete the program together and then complete assessments of aggressive and risk behaviors, parent-child communication, and emotion regulation at baseline, 3-,and 9-month follow-ups.

Enrollment: 119 patients

Sex: Male

Ages: 12 to 14 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 1. adolescent enrolled in the 7th or 8th grade,
• 2. parent/legal guardian and teen are English speaking,
• 3. parent/legal guardian is willing to provide consent for the adolescent to participate in the study,
• 4. adolescent is willing to provide assent for their own participation.

Exclusion criteria

• 1. observable cognitive or developmental delays that would preclude participation,
• 2. residing with participating parent/guardian less than half time

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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119 participants in 2 patient groups

Waitlist Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Parents and teens enrolled in the study and randomized to the control condition wait until they complete their 3-month and 9-month follow-up surveys before completing the web-based program.

Project STRONG

Experimental group

Description:

The web-based program consists of a number of games, activities, and didactic information that teens move through with their parent. Didactic information introduces teens and parents to specific emotion management, communication, and problem solving strategies as well as sexual health and healthy relationship information. Games and activities allow parents and teens to practice and apply strategies to developmentally appropriate situations.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Project STRONG