Family Mediation Program For At-Risk Youth

The goal of this project is to conduct a pilot evaluation of a parent-child mediation program for at-risk youth. It is investigating whether families who receive parent-child mediation show greater improvement in family functioning, as well as adolescent substance use, academic performance, and delinquency, over a 6-week and 12-week period compared to a wait-list control sample.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Family Functioning
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Families Able To Resolve Situations (FARS)

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 111
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Hawthorne, California, United States, 90250
      • Centinela Youth Services

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 12 years to 19 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Has a child referred to FARS due to having problems in any of the following areas: (a) poor grades; (b) truancy; (c) defiant behavior; (d) running away; (e) delinquency; (f) substance use
2. Agrees to participate in at least one FARS mediation session
3. Agrees to complete 3 surveys and be available over the next 3 months for follow-up

4. Fluent in English or Spanish

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   Exclusion Criteria: Families referred to FARS due to: (a) conflicts involving gang violence (e.g., shootings, killings); (b) conflicts involving weapons; (c) arson; (d) conflicts involving explicit sex activities; (e) conflicts involving domestic violence/child abuse; and (f) threats to harm self or others.

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Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Family Mediation; Families receive FARS family mediation program after completing baseline survey.	Behavioral: Families Able To Resolve Situations (FARS); Family mediation is a method of resolving conflicts between parents and teens. During the mediation session, the parent and teen each meet one-on-one with a trained volunteer mediator, who is a neutral person who listens to each party's concerns without taking sides. Then the parent and teen come together and meet with this mediator to work on resolving conflicts they are having. Families participate in up to 3 mediation sessions.
No Intervention: Wait-list control; Families receive FARS family mediation program after completing baseline, 6-week and 12-week surveys.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Positive Family Relations	6-item Positive Family Relations measure adapted from the Cohesion subscale of Moos & Moos Family Environment Scale (Metzler et al., 1998; Journal of Family Psychology, 12, 600-619). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("not at all" to "very much") and averaged to create a scale score.	6-week
Family Conflict	5-item measure from the Family, Friends and Self (FFS) assessment scales (Simpson & McBride, 1992; Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 14, 327-340). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.	6-week
Family Communication	10-item measure assessing open vs. problem communication (McCubbin, Thompson & McCubbin, 1996; Family assessment: Resiliency, coping and adaptation - Inventories for research and practice. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.	6-week
Parent Support	4-item measure (Wills et al., 2004; Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18, 122-134). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.	6-week
Positive Family Relations	6-item Positive Family Relations measure adapted from the Cohesion subscale of Moos & Moos Family Environment Scale (Metzler et al., 1998; Journal of Family Psychology, 12, 600-619). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("not at all" to "very much") and averaged to create a scale score.	12-week
Family Conflict	5-item measure from the Family, Friends and Self (FFS) assessment scales (Simpson & McBride, 1992; Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 14, 327-340). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.	12-week
Family Communication	10-item measure assessing open vs. problem communication (McCubbin, Thompson & McCubbin, 1996; Family assessment: Resiliency, coping and adaptation - Inventories for research and practice. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.	12-week
Parent Support	4-item measure (Wills et al., 2004; Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18, 122-134). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.	12-week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Lifetime and Past Month Substance Use	Number of times used in lifetime (range: "0 times" to "7 or more times") and number of days used in past month (range: "0 days" to "20-30-days") for each of the following substances: cigarettes; alcohol; marijuana; inhalants; any other illegal drug or pill to get high; over-the-counter medicines or OTCs to get high; and prescription medicines to get high. Additional items ask about quantity of cigarette, alcohol and marijuana use on days used, as well as intentions to use each of these substances in next 6 months (4-point scale, ranging from "definitely yes" to "definitely no").	6-week
Academic Performance	Items ask about typical grades in past month (range: "mostly A's" to "mostly F's"), school attachment (4-item measure from National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health), highest level of school the youth plans to finish (range: "I may not finish high school" to "I plan to go to graduate or professional school"), number of days skipped school in past month, and history of suspension from school.	6-week
Delinquency	13-item measure that includes items from Project ALERT and National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Items are rated on a 7-point scale ("0 days" to "20-30 days").	6-weeks
Lifetime and Past Month Substance Use	Number of times used in lifetime (range: "0 times" to "7 or more times") and number of days used in past month (range: "0 days" to "20-30-days") for each of the following substances: cigarettes; alcohol; marijuana; inhalants; any other illegal drug or pill to get high; over-the-counter medicines or OTCs to get high; and prescription medicines to get high. Additional items ask about quantity of cigarette, alcohol and marijuana use on days used, as well as intentions to use each of these substances in next 6 months (4-point scale, ranging from "definitely yes" to "definitely no").	12-week
Academic Performance	Items ask about typical grades in past month (range: "mostly A's" to "mostly F's"), school attachment (4-item measure from National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health), highest level of school the youth plans to finish (range: "I may not finish high school" to "I plan to go to graduate or professional school"), number of days skipped school in past month, and history of suspension from school.	12-week
Delinquency	13-item measure that includes items from Project ALERT and National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Items are rated on a 7-point scale ("0 days" to "20-30 days").	12-weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: RAND
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Joan S. Tucker, PhD, RAND

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: July 1, 2011
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): April 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 3, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 13, 2013
• First Posted (Estimate): September 18, 2013

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): April 6, 2016
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 5, 2016
• Last Verified: April 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: R34DA031910 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)