Early Intervention Foster Care: A Prevention Trial

NCT ID: NCT00701194

Last Updated: 2025-07-09

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 177 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 1999-12-31
• Study Completion Date: 2011-03-31

Brief Summary

The Early Intervention Foster Care [EIFC] project is an efficacy trial of the Oregon Social Learning Center Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care Program, a preventive intervention that targets 3 commonly co-occurring variables among young foster children: (1) behavioral problems, (2) physiological dysregulation within the neuroendocrine system (i.e., HPA axis activity), and (3) developmental delays.

Detailed Description

The Early Intervention Foster Care project is an ongoing randomized efficacy trial to evaluate the Early Intervention Foster Care Program (EIFC). EIFC, also known at Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care-Preschool (MTFC-P), is a preventive intervention that is specifically designed to address the needs of preschool-aged foster children and their caregivers. Over the first 5 years of the project data was collected from 177 preschool-aged children, 117 of whom were in the Oregon foster care system and 60 of whom were living with their biological families for a community comparison sample. Foster children in the study were randomly assigned to the EIFC experimental intervention condition or a regular foster care condition (RFC). The following hypotheses are under investigation: (1) Relative to children in the RFC condition, children in the EIFC condition will show greater improvements in temporally proximal outcomes (e.g., behavioral/emotional, salivary cortisol, and developmental) and in temporally distal outcomes (e.g., behavioral functioning in the school setting; long-term placement stability, including reunification or adoption; and mental health status, including psychiatric diagnoses). (2) Proximal outcomes over the course of the intervention will predict distal outcomes during the early elementary school years. (3) Proximal outcomes will be mediated by caregivers' childrearing practices-specifically, engagement with and monitoring of the child in the home, the quality and consistency of parental discipline, and the use of positive reinforcement strategies. (4) The same childrearing practices will mediate the psychosocial adjustment of the child in the aftercare setting (i.e., return to family of origin, placement in adoptive home, or continued placement in long-term foster home). (5) The EIFC intervention will cost-effectively reduce the need for mental health and social services for children, decreasing the length of time that children spend in foster care and reducing the need for special education services for children.

Conditions

School Readiness; Developmental Delays

Study Design

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

Study Groups

1

EIFC/MTFC-P

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Early Intervention Foster Care (EIFC)

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The EIFC/MTFC-P intervention is delivered through a treatment team approach. Foster parents receive preservice training and ongoing consultation from program staff. Children receive individual therapy and attend a therapeutic playgroup. The intervention emphasizes the use of concrete encouragement for prosocial behavior; consistent, nonabusive limit-setting to address disruptive behavior; and close supervision of the child. The EIFC intervention employs a developmental framework in which the challenges of foster preschoolers are viewed from the perspective of delayed maturation and is oriented toward creating optimal environmental conditions to facilitate developmental progress. These conditions include a responsive and consistent caregiver and a predictable daily routine.

2

Services as usual

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Community Comparison

Non-maltreated community pre-schoolers from low-income biological families.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Early Intervention Foster Care (EIFC)

The EIFC/MTFC-P intervention is delivered through a treatment team approach. Foster parents receive preservice training and ongoing consultation from program staff. Children receive individual therapy and attend a therapeutic playgroup. The intervention emphasizes the use of concrete encouragement for prosocial behavior; consistent, nonabusive limit-setting to address disruptive behavior; and close supervision of the child. The EIFC intervention employs a developmental framework in which the challenges of foster preschoolers are viewed from the perspective of delayed maturation and is oriented toward creating optimal environmental conditions to facilitate developmental progress. These conditions include a responsive and consistent caregiver and a predictable daily routine.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

Multidemensional Treatment Foster Care-Preschool (MTFC-P)

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• child age 3 to 6 years currently in foster care
• child has entered new foster placement
• child currently living in Lane County, Oregon

Exclusion Criteria

• child is medically or developmentally unable to complete assessment tasks

• Minimum Eligible Age: 3 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 6 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Oregon Social Learning Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Philip A. Fisher, PhD

Study Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Philip A Fisher, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Oregon Social Learning Center

Locations

Oregon Social Learning Center

Eugene, Oregon, United States

Countries

United States

Related Links

http://www.oslc.org

Oregon Social Learning Center website

Other Identifiers

R01MH059780

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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