Early Family-Centered Prevention of Drug Use Risk (Aka Early Steps) (Early Steps)

January 17, 2019 updated by: University of Oregon

Early Family-Centered Prevention of Drug Use Risk

The investigators are testing the efficacy of a family-based preventive intervention, which began when the children were age 2, with children at risk for developing significant conduct problems. Families who were originally recruited from Women, Infants and Children (WIC) were randomly assigned to a family-centered intervention developed by Dishion and colleagues (Dishion & Kavanagh, 2003; Dishion & Stormshak, 2006) referred to as an 'ecological approach to family intervention and treatment' (EcoFIT). The current study expands the Early Steps intervention into the elementary school years beyond what is currently available for a WIC service delivery venue, in which children are no longer eligible for services at age 6.

The investigators are testing the hypothesis that periodic, tailored, and adaptive interventions delivered to caregivers at school entry will (a) reduce the probability of elevated risk associated with early-onset problem behavior, including the eventual use of drugs and other health-risking behaviors; (b) reduce the likelihood of mental health problems such as childhood depression, anxiety, conduct problems and co-morbidity; and (c) promote children's development of self-regulation, which underlies school readiness, early school literacy academic achievement, and positive peer relations.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Aims of the current project are:

  1. Refine the intervention model to address the child's adaptation to school and development of self-regulatory skills and underlying multiple dimensions of school success.
  2. Examine and test the consistency of developmental models of problem behavior, emotional adjustment, and normative self-regulation in childhood.
  3. Evaluate the long-term impact of intervention on risk pathways to later drug abuse and health-risking behaviors by examining early risk markers, including children's problem behavior, poor emotional adjustment, and lack of school readiness.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

731

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Oregon
      • Eugene, Oregon, United States, 97401
        • University of Oregon-Child and Family Center
    • Pennsylvania
      • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15260
        • University of Pittsburgh
    • Virginia
      • Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, 22904
        • University of Virginia

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

2 years to 3 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Original Inclusion Criteria:

  • Parents with children between ages two and three
  • Currently enrolled with Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
  • To qualify for the original study, families needed to meet criteria for child, family, and sociodemographic risk. Specifically, families either had to meet "child risk" factors or they had to have at least two of the three factors present to qualify for the study. To meet criterion for child risk, scores must be at least one SD above the normative average on the Eyberg Intensity of Problems factors, the Bates difficulty (i.e. negative emotionality) factor, or the conflict factor of the Adult-Child Relationship Scale. Family risk was determined by a score of one SD above the normative average on maternal depressive symptoms or parenting daily hassles, having substance use/abuse problems, or teen parent status. Sociodemographic risk was established using educational attainment because all WIC participants met criteria for low income. Families in which educational attainment is less than three years of college for both parents satisfied the requirement of sociodemographic risk.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: EcoFIT offered
Other: Ecological Family Intervention and Treatment (EcoFIT)
Includes the Family Check-Up (in-person intake, family video observations and Assessment questionnaires used to provide and tailored feedback using motivational interviewing techniques) as well as continued tailored intervention services using the Everyday Parenting Curriculum.
Other Names:
  • Family Check-Up (FCU)
No Intervention: No Feedback or services offered

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Home visit assessment
Time Frame: yearly
Includes caregiver assessment packets (including CBCL, Eyberg, Rothbart Effortful Control scales, CESD-D, parental substance use, Adult-Child Relationship scale), child assessment (including DIBELS and Woodcock-Johnson) and Parent-Child videotaped interactions.
yearly

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Oregon

Collaborators

University of Pittsburgh
University of Virginia

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Thomas J Dishion, PhD, University of Oregon- Child and Family Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 2003

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 1, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 2, 2010

First Posted (Estimate)

April 5, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 22, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 17, 2019

Last Verified

January 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 3R01DA016110 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Depression

Clinical Trials on Ecological Family Intervention and Treatment (EcoFIT)

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Saint Lucia

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe