Prevention Program for Problem Behaviors in Girls in Foster Care

NCT ID: NCT00239837

Last Updated: 2022-03-04

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 100 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2003-12-31
• Study Completion Date: 2013-04-30

Brief Summary

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.

Detailed 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.

Conditions

Juvenile Justice Involvement; Drug Abuse

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Middle School Success Intervention (MSS)

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

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Middle School Success Intervention (MSS)

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

This is a 10-month, psychosocial intervention for foster parents and girls, with administration of the intervention beginning the summer before entry into middle school. The intervention consists of: (1) six summer Pride groups for the girls, (2) six summer parenting intervention sessions for the foster parents; (3) weekly foster parent training and support sessions for foster parents during the first year of middle school; and (4) weekly individual skills training for the girls during the first year of middle school.

Foster Care Services as Usual

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

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Middle School Success Intervention (MSS)

This is a 10-month, psychosocial intervention for foster parents and girls, with administration of the intervention beginning the summer before entry into middle school. The intervention consists of: (1) six summer Pride groups for the girls, (2) six summer parenting intervention sessions for the foster parents; (3) weekly foster parent training and support sessions for foster parents during the first year of middle school; and (4) weekly individual skills training for the girls during the first year of middle school.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

KEEP SAFE

Eligibility Criteria

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

• Minimum Eligible Age: 10 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 12 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Oregon Social Learning Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Leslie D. Leve

Senior Fellow

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Leslie Leve, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Oregon

Locations

Oregon Social Learning Center

Eugene, Oregon, United States

Countries

United States

References

Chamberlain P, Leve LD, Smith DK. Preventing Behavior Problems and Health-risking Behaviors in Girls in Foster Care. Int J Behav Consult Ther. 2006;2(4):518-530. doi: 10.1037/h0101004.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 18176629 (View on PubMed)

Mendle J, Leve LD, Van Ryzin M, Natsuaki MN, Ge X. Associations Between Early Life Stress, Child Maltreatment, and Pubertal Development Among Girls in Foster Care. J Res Adolesc. 2011 Dec 1;21(4):871-880. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2011.00746.x.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 22337616 (View on PubMed)

Natsuaki MN, Leve LD, Mendle J. Going through the rites of passage: timing and transition of menarche, childhood sexual abuse, and anxiety symptoms in girls. J Youth Adolesc. 2011 Oct;40(10):1357-70. doi: 10.1007/s10964-010-9622-6. Epub 2010 Dec 24.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 21184260 (View on PubMed)

Smith DK, Leve LD, Chamberlain P. Preventing internalizing and externalizing problems in girls in foster care as they enter middle school: impact of an intervention. Prev Sci. 2011 Sep;12(3):269-77. doi: 10.1007/s11121-011-0211-z.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 21475990 (View on PubMed)

Kim HK, Leve LD. Substance use and delinquency among middle school girls in foster care: a three-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2011 Dec;79(6):740-50. doi: 10.1037/a0025949. Epub 2011 Oct 17.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 22004305 (View on PubMed)

Mendle J, Leve LD, Van Ryzin M, Natsuaki MN. Linking Childhood Maltreatment with Girls' Internalizing Symptoms: Early Puberty as a Tipping Point. J Res Adolesc. 2014 Dec 1;24(4):689-702. doi: 10.1111/jora.12075.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 25419091 (View on PubMed)

Kim HK, Pears KC, Leve LD, Chamberlain PC, Smith DK. Intervention Effects on Health-Risking Sexual Behavior Among Girls in Foster Care: The Role of Placement Disruption and Tobacco and Marijuana Use. J Child Adolesc Subst Abuse. 2013 Nov 1;22(5):370-387. doi: 10.1080/1067828X.2013.788880.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 24043921 (View on PubMed)

Weller JA, Leve LD, Kim HK, Bhimji J, Fisher PA. Plasticity of risky decision making among maltreated adolescents: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial. Dev Psychopathol. 2015 May;27(2):535-51. doi: 10.1017/S0954579415000140.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 25997770 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

R01MH054257

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

R21DA027091

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

R01MH054257

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

View Link