KITS: School Readiness in Foster Care Efficacy Trial (KITS)

The KITS project is a 5-year randomized trial to evaluate a program designed to enhance academic and social-emotional aspects of school readiness for foster preschoolers.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: School Readiness
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: KITS Program

Detailed Description

The overarching goal of this research project is to conduct a randomized efficacy trial of a preventive intervention-the Kids in Transition to School (KITS) program-to enhance socioemotional and academic school readiness among preschool-aged foster children. Foster children are at great risk for poor social and academic school outcomes. Because of their experiences of early adversity, these children may have particular vulnerabilities that decrease the likelihood of a successful transition to school. Extensive prior research has shown that chronic early adversity is associated with alterations in the functioning of key neural systems (specifically, prefrontal cortex function and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity) related to self-regulation and stress reactivity. Alterations in these systems may interfere with children's abilities to relate to peers, to maintain focused attention, to follow directions, and to learn academic skills. Additionally, because these children are likely to have experienced multiple living transitions, they may be at a disadvantage in terms of caregiver involvement in school, a critical aspect of early school success. Foster children are recruited in the spring before they enter kindergarten and randomly assigned to the intervention and comparison conditions. The KITS intervention includes three components: (a) child therapeutic play groups to facilitate the development of self-regulatory, social, and emergent literacy skills; (b) a psychoeducational support group to promote caregiver involvement in the child's emergent literacy and schooling and the use of effective parenting techniques; (c) home- and school-based behavioral consultation. The intervention coincides with the transition into kindergarten. Multi-method, multi-agent assessments of the children's socioemotional readiness and literacy skills are conducted at baseline, kindergarten entry, and postkindergarten. We will examine the direct effects of the intervention on school readiness and kindergarten outcomes. We will also assess whether intervention effects are mediated through mechanisms of stress reactivity and regulation and caregiver variables. Finally, we will test for moderator effects of child and contextual characteristics including early adversity (prenatal/neonatal health, maltreatment history and placement history), child cognitive functioning, and placement transitions during the course of the study. An additional exploratory aim of the study is to examine intervention effects on first and second grade outcomes for subsamples of children. Group comparisons and longitudinal growth modeling will allow for evaluation of hypotheses.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 192
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Oregon
    • Eugene, Oregon, United States, 97401
      • Oregon Social Learning Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 4 years to 6 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• a child currently in foster care
• living in Lane or Marion County, Oregon
• eligible to enter Kindergarten in fall of assessment year (age 5 by September 1 of assessment year)

Exclusion Criteria:

• medical or developmental condition which would prevent the child from completing the assessment tasks
• current or previous involvement in Oregon Social Learning Center treatment programs

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Services as usual
Experimental: KITS Program; The KITS intervention consists of: (a) child therapeutic play groups to facilitate the development of self-regulatory, social, and emergent literacy skills (2 times per week in summer, 1 times per week in the fall); (b) a bi-monthly psychoeducational support group to promote caregiver involvement in the child's emergent literacy and schooling and the use of effective parenting techniques; (c) home- and school-based behavioral consultation on an as needed basis.	Behavioral: KITS Program; This is a 4-month psychosocial intervention for foster children entering kindergarten and their caregivers beginning the summer before kindergarten. The KITS intervention consists of: (a) child therapeutic play groups to facilitate the development of self-regulatory, social, and emergent literacy skills (2 times per week in summer, 1 times per week in the fall); (b) a bi-monthly psychoeducational support group to promote caregiver involvement in the child's emergent literacy and schooling and the use of effective parenting techniques; (c) home- and school-based behavioral consultation on an as needed basis.; Other Names: Kids in Transition to School (KITS) Program

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Early literacy skills	pre-intervention, pre-kindergarten, end of kindergarten
Social skills	pre-intervention, pre-kindergarten, end of kindergarten
Regulatory skills	pre-intervention, pre-kindergarten, end of kindergarten
Caregiver involvement	pre-intervention, pre-kindergarten, end of kindergarten

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Academic achievement	post-kindergarten, post 1st grade, post 2nd grade
Peer relations	post 1st grade, post 2nd grade

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Oregon Social Learning Center
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Katherine C Pears, PhD, Oregon Social Learning Center

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Pears KC, Kim HK, Fisher PA. Effects of a School Readiness Intervention for Children in Foster Care on Oppositional and Aggressive Behaviors in Kindergarten. Child Youth Serv Rev. 2012 Dec;34(12):2361-2366. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.08.015. No abstract available.
• Pears KC, Fisher PA, Bronz KD. An Intervention to Promote Social Emotional School Readiness in Foster Children: Preliminary Outcomes From a Pilot Study. School Psych Rev. 2007;36(4):665-673.
• Pears KC, Fisher PA, Kim HK, Bruce J, Healey CV, Yoerger K. Immediate Effects of a School Readiness Intervention for Children in Foster Care. Early Educ Dev. 2013 Aug;24(6):771-791. doi: 10.1080/10409289.2013.736037.

Helpful Links

• Oregon Social Learning Center website

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: September 1, 2005
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 31, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): December 31, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 28, 2008
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 28, 2008
• First Posted (Estimate): June 2, 2008

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): September 19, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 18, 2017
• Last Verified: September 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: foster care; literacy; school readiness; social emotional skills; self regulation; caregiver involvement; maltreatment
• Other Study ID Numbers: R01DA021424 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)