Web-based Intervention for Disaster-Affected Youth and Families

A single disaster, terrorist attack, or other large-scale incident can adversely affect thousands of youth and families. Immediate consequences may include unmet basic needs and high economic burden, particularly among underserved populations. Disasters also can dramatically affect family roles and relationships over time (e.g., family routines, marital stress, parent-child interactions). Whereas most youth are resilient in the aftermath of disasters (i.e., do not develop serious mental health or health-risk problems), the prevalence of various problems of public health significance (e.g., PTSD, depression, substance abuse) clearly increases in this population. This underscores the need for effective, widely accessible, culturally-appropriate and cost-efficient interventions that foster resilience or rapid recovery relative to the health effects of disasters. Yet, few evidence-informed resources are available to youth and families to facilitate post-disaster resilience and recovery. Primary aims of this project are: (a) to develop a Web-based intervention for disaster-affected adolescents and parents targeting prevalent health-related correlates of disasters (i.e., development phase), (b) to conduct a randomized controlled population-based study to examine feasibility and preliminary efficacy of the intervention (i.e., randomized controlled trial [RCT] phase) and cultural relevance (i.e., perceived applicability of the intervention to one's cultural group), and (c) to refine the intervention based on RCT-phase data.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Mental Health Wellness 1
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Bounce Back Now Website

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 2000
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 12 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• adolescent between the ages of 12-17 and primary caregiver,
• residence in study identified location(s) at time of disaster,
• home internet connectivity

Exclusion Criteria:

• adolescent's primary caregiver not available,
• no adolescents in home,
• not residing in location at time of disaster,
• poor or no internet connectivity

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Child, Parenting, & Parent Web-Intervention; Bounce Back Now Child, Parenting, & Parent Psychoeducation & Self-Help Web-Intervention.	Behavioral: Bounce Back Now Website; Bounce Back Now is a web-based psychoeducation and self-help website
Experimental: Child & Parenting Web-Intervention; Bounce Back Now Child & Parenting Psychoeducation and Self-Help Web-Intervention.	Behavioral: Bounce Back Now Website; Bounce Back Now is a web-based psychoeducation and self-help website
No Intervention: Child & Parent Web-based Assessment; Bounce Back Now Web-Based Symptom Assessment

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Change in adolescent mental health symptoms	baseline, 4 month followup, and 12 month followup
Change in parent mental health symptoms	baseline, 4 month followup, 12 month followup
Change in parent-child conflict	baseline, 4 month followup, 12 month followup
Change in parent-child relationship quality	baseline, 4 month followup, 12 month followup

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Medical University of South Carolina
• Collaborators: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Kenneth J Ruggiero, PhD, Medical University of South Carolina

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Ruggiero KJ, Price M, Adams Z, Stauffacher K, McCauley J, Danielson CK, Knapp R, Hanson RF, Davidson TM, Amstadter AB, Carpenter MJ, Saunders BE, Kilpatrick DG, Resnick HS. Web Intervention for Adolescents Affected by Disaster: Population-Based Randomized Controlled Trial. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2015 Sep;54(9):709-17. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2015.07.001. Epub 2015 Jul 11.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: December 1, 2010
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 1, 2013
• Study Completion (Actual): June 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 21, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 23, 2012
• First Posted (Estimate): May 25, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): October 6, 2014
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 3, 2014
• Last Verified: August 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 1R01MH081056-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)