Foster Teens' Risk During Transition (LINKS)

November 20, 2018 updated by: Oregon Social Learning Center

Foster Teens' Risk During Transition: Preventing Drug Use, HIV, & School Problems

The purpose of this study is to conduct a randomized effectiveness trial to determine whether adding a preventive intervention at the transition from elementary to middle school is effective and cost effective in terms of ameliorating outcomes such as drug and tobacco use, participation in HIV- risking sexual behavior, delinquency, mental health problems, and school failure for young adolescents in foster care. The proposed LINKS intervention marries the goals of child welfare and educational systems. The aims are: a) to determine the effectiveness of the LINKS intervention on key behavioral health and school adjustment outcomes, b) to examine mechanisms of action; specifically the mediating effects of placement failure on outcomes, c) to examine the moderating role of fidelity on outcomes, and d) to examine cost effectiveness and cost avoidance of LINKS.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

173

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
    • California
      • San Diego, California, United States, 92182-1948
        • San Diego State University Foundation
    • Oregon
      • Eugene, Oregon, United States, 97401
        • Oregon Social Learning Center

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

9 years to 13 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • the focal youth will be transitioning into middle school
  • the focal youth is in either a foster or kinship care home
  • the focal youth has been in the home for a minimum of 30 days (including those who are newly placed in care and those moving from another type of placement).

Exclusion Criteria:

  • youth who are are considered medically fragile (i.e., severely physically or mentally handicapped)

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: LINKS
Foster parent and child participate in 16-week intervention
Behavioral: LINKS
In the LINKS, foster/kin parents will participate in weekly group meetings led by well-trained and supervised paraprofessional facilitators (school behavioral aids and foster parents) where the curriculum is based on parent management training (PMT). In previous studies, attendance at such groups has been high, averaging about 75-80%. Missed sessions will be "made up" with an in-person visit to the foster/kin home during the week of the original session. In addition, youth in the intervention condition will receive individual skill building sessions from a Life Skills Coach to increase their competency at goal setting, refusal skills, and peer relations.
No Intervention: Services as Usual
Foster parent and child receive standard services through child welfare system

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Number of Placement Failures
Time Frame: between Baseline and 18-Months later
between Baseline and 18-Months later

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Oregon Social Learning Center

Collaborators

San Diego State University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Patricia Chamberlain, Phd, Oregon Social Learning Center

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

December 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 13, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 14, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

January 16, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 23, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 20, 2018

Last Verified

November 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R01DA032634 (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.

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