Evaluating Trauma-Informed, Evidence-Informed Interventions for Latino Families Experiencing Domestic Violence

SafeCare+: Implementing & Evaluating Trauma-Informed, Evidence-Informed Interventions for Latino Families Experiencing Domestic Violence & Child Maltreatment

This project will evaluate the implementation and efficacy of a domestic violence intervention module for parents receiving child welfare home visitation services.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Interpersonal Relations
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: SafeCare+ (SC+); Behavioral: SafeCare (SC)

Detailed Description

The ultimate goal of this proposed project is the provision of culturally-relevant, trauma-informed services leading to a reduction of family violence, and a resultant increase in family stability, improved communication, and a healthy home environment for children in Latino families with co-occurring domestic violence (DV) and child abuse/neglect (CAN). The Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) funded project and evaluation will be layered onto the existing UC San Diego's NIH-funded R01 research (NIH R01 MH092950) on scale-up of SafeCare (SC) across the entire San Diego Child Welfare System. In the first phase of this project, the community and academic partners will collaborate to develop a detailed evaluation plan by collecting formative qualitative data via focus groups with active CW clients with domestic violence (DV) histories and community child welfare and DV service providers. The second phase of this project will begin with the implementation of SafeCare+ (SC+), an evidence-based training curriculum for parents referred for child maltreatment, coupled with the Healthy Relationships (HR) module for Latino families with co-occurring child maltreatment and domestic violence experiences. SafeCare® (SC) has been shown to be widely accepted among the Latino community and the HR module has been specifically adapted for and successfully utilized with Latino populations. As part of the expansion of the original research study, 80 clients who will be recruited into the existing study will also be randomly assigned to receive the additional HR module.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 64
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • La Jolla, California, United States, 92093
      • UC San Diego

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Service providers (CWS and DV) and active CW clients with DV histories will be recruited via random selection to participate in focus groups during the planning year of the project.
• Latino families are eligible for the RCT based on the following criteria: (a) being identified as an appropriate family for SafeCare; and (b) by having at least one, qualifying DV experience, which will be determined during the baseline needs assessment.

Exclusion Criteria:

• A client will be excluded if he/she indicates to the service provider that they are unable to comprehend the written questionnaire and cannot obtain outside assistance in understanding and completing the questionnaire.
• Clients under the age of 18 will able be excluded because they cannot provide informed consent.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: SafeCare+ (SC+); SafeCare intervention with the additional Healthy Relationships (HR) module	Behavioral: SafeCare+ (SC+); SafeCare intervention with the additional Healthy Relationships (HR) module
Active Comparator: SafeCare (SC); SafeCare intervention as usual	Behavioral: SafeCare (SC); SafeCare intervention as usual

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Fidelity	Fidelity monitoring will begin simultaneously with the implementation of SafeCare (SC®). Fidelity is assessed largely via client report, with clients completing a fidelity questionnaire at the end of every SC or SC+ session. A secondary fidelity component utilizes information gained from the natural implementation of SC®. SC+ includes ongoing consultation in the form of expert SC® clinicians who accompany home visitors, observe their interactions with families, and coach them on improving performance and services.	4 years
Change in level of domestic violence	The Conflict Tactic Scale (CTS2): measures both the extent to which partners in a dating, cohabiting, or marital relationship engage in psychological and physical attacks on each other and also their use of reasoning or negotiation to deal with conflicts.	4 years
Client depression	The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (Radloff, 1977) is a 20-item questionnaire which assesses depressive symptomology.	4 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, San Diego
• Collaborators: University of Oklahoma; University of Southern California; Children's Bureau - Administration for Children and Families; South Bay Community Services; San Diego County Child Welfare Services

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Fettes DL, Aarons GA, Brew V, Ledesma K, Silovsky J. Implementation of a trauma-informed, evidence-informed intervention for Latinx families experiencing interpersonal violence and child maltreatment: protocol for a pilot randomized control trial of SafeCare+(R). Pilot Feasibility Stud. 2020 Oct 8;6:153. doi: 10.1186/s40814-020-00681-3. eCollection 2020.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 1, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): June 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 31, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 31, 2017
• First Posted (Estimate): February 2, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 25, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 21, 2021
• Last Verified: May 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: domestic violence; healthy relationships; interpersonal relations
• Other Study ID Numbers: 20140475

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO