AVANCE-Houston Building Futures Program Evaluation

AVANCE-Houston Building Futures Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Program Evaluation

AVANCE seeks to understand if participation in the AVANCE-Houston Building Futures (A-HBF) program is associated with improved outcomes among the target population of at-risk, homeless, and incarcerated youth. Additionally, the evaluation will examine how and why participant-level characteristics such as relationship status, life status, and demographics are associated with greater or lesser benefit from A-HBF program participation. This research will provide insights about the Survival Skills for Healthy Families curriculum and its effectiveness for the target population that can be used in the development of future programming efforts.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Youth
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Building Futures Program Primary Services

Detailed Description

Trauma-informed services are needed to improve self-sufficiency, economic stability, and healthy relationships among at-risk, homeless, and incarcerated youth in Harris County, especially those living in areas with high numbers of single-family households, high poverty rates, low educational attainment, high teen pregnancy rates, high incidence of domestic violence, and high involvement with the (juvenile) justice system. AVANCE-Houston's Building Futures program (A-HBF) aims to facilitate successful transitions to adulthood for cohorts of at-risk and homeless youth by offering healthy relationship and marriage education through the Survival Skills for Healthy Families (SSHF) curriculum.

Developed by Family Wellness Associates, SSHF is an evidence-based curriculum delivered through a series of workshops that focus on communication skills, conflict resolution, knowledge of the benefits of marriage, stress and anger management, parenting skills, financial literacy, job and career advancement, and relationship skills to improve family and economic stability. AVANCE will offer the curriculum via weekly workshops for youth that take place in targeted high-need areas.

AVANCE seeks to understand if participation in the A-HBF program is associated with improved outcomes among the target population of at-risk and homeless youth. Additionally, the evaluation will examine how and why participant-level characteristics such as relationship status, life status, and demographics are associated with greater or lesser benefit from A-HBF program participation. This research will provide insights about the SSHF curriculum and its effectiveness for the target population that can be used in the development of future programming efforts.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 718
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Houston, Texas, United States, 77092
      • AVANCE-Houston

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 14 years to 18 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Youth (aged 14-18)
• High-needs school districts enrolled in grades 9-12
• Residing in juvenile detention center

Exclusion Criteria:

• Adult (age 19 and older)-youth can be age 18 and enrolled into the study
• Youth (age 14 and younger)
• Not enrolled in school (non-incarcerated youth)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Building Futures Program Primary Services; Primary Services Participants receive 14 hours of Survival Skills for Healthy Families curricula delivered over a series of 7 weekly workshops. Participants also receive support services delivered by Family Coaches and Career Coaches as needed.	Other: Building Futures Program Primary Services; Primary Services Participants receive 14 hours of Survival Skills for Healthy Families curricula delivered over a series of 7 weekly workshops. Participants also receive support services delivered by Family Coaches and Career Coaches as needed.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Healthy Partner Relationship Behavior Measurement #1	1A) Will participants report healthier partner relationship behaviors after they complete primary services and support services in the AVANCE-Houston Building Futures Program? Items measured include: 5 items - levels of reported skill with key relationship behaviors (categories; 4-point scale) Measured on the Healthy Parenting Behavior Scale #1 as: 1=I am extremely good at this, 2=I am good at this, 3=I am bad at this, 4=I am extremely bad at this The lower the rating, the better the score. The construct is created by adding all 5 scores together and dividing by 5. Maximum score: 4.0, minimum score: 1.0	baseline and follow-up 12-months post-enrollment
Healthy Partner Relationship Behavior Measurement #2	1B) Will participants report healthier partner relationship behaviors after they complete primary services and support services in the AVANCE-Houston Building Futures Program? Items measured include: 6 items - frequency of engagement in key relationship behaviors (categories; 5-point scale) Measured on the Healthy Parenting Behavior Scale #2 as: 1=none of the time, 2=some of the time, 3=half of the time, 4=most of the time, 5=all of the time The lower the rating, the better the score. The construct is created by adding all 6 scores together and dividing by 6. Maximum score: 5.0, minimum score: 1.0	baseline and follow-up 12-months post-enrollment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Healthy Partner Relationship Attitudes Measurement #1	2A) Will participants report healthier partner relationship attitudes after they complete primary services and support services in the AVANCE-Houston Building Futures Program? Items measured include: 9 items - levels of agreement with relationship beliefs (categories; 4-point scale) Measured on the Healthy Relationship Attitudes Scale #1 as: 1=strongly agree, 2=agree, 3=disagree 4=strongly disagree The construct is created by adding all 9 scores together and dividing by 9. Maximum score: 4.0, minimum score: 1.0 The higher the score, the better the outcome.	Change from baseline in partner relationship attitudes to immediately after program completion (7 weeks)
Healthy Partner Relationship Attitudes Measurement #2	2B) Will participants report healthier partner relationship attitudes after they complete primary services and support services in the AVANCE-Houston Building Futures Program? Items measured include: 3 items - likelihood of key relationship beliefs (categories; 5-point scale) Measured on the Healthy Relationship Attitudes Scale #2 as: 1=almost no chance, 2=some chance but probably not, 3=a 50-50 chance, 4=a good chance, 5=almost certain The three items are added together and divided by three to get a score. The higher the score, the better the outcome. maximum score: 5, minimum score: 1	Change from baseline in partner relationship attitudes to immediately after program completion (7 weeks)
Healthy Sexual Attitudes Measurement #1	3A) Will participants report healthier sexual attitudes after they complete primary services and support services in the AVANCE-Houston Building Futures Program? Items measured include: 7 items - levels of agreement with key sexual attitudes (categories; 4-point scale) Measured on the Healthy Sexual Attitudes Scale #1 as: 1=strongly agree, 2=agree, 3=disagree 4=strongly disagree The lower the rating the better the outcome. The construct is created by adding all 7 scores together and dividing by 7. Maximum score: 4.0, minimum score: 1.0	Change from baseline in sexual attitudes from enrollment to immediately after program completion (7 weeks)
Healthy Financial Attitudes Measurement #1	4A) Will participants report healthier financial attitudes after they complete primary services and support services in the AVANCE-Houston Building Futures Program? Items measured include: 8 items - levels of agreement with key financial attitudes (categories; 5-point scale) Measured on the Healthy Financial Attitudes Scale #1 as: 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neither agree nor disagree, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree The higher the score, the better the outcome. The construct is created by adding all 8 scores together and dividing by 8. Maximum score: 5.0, minimum score: 1.0	baseline and follow-up at 12-months post-enrollment
Healthy Employment Attitudes Measurement #1	5A) Will participants report healthier employment attitudes after they complete primary services and support services in the AVANCE-Houston Building Futures Program? Items measured include: 8 items - levels of agreement with key employment attitudes (categories; 5-point scale) Measured on the Healthy Employment Attitudes Scale #1 as: 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neither agree nor disagree, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree The construct is created by adding all 8 scores together and dividing by 8. The higher the score, the better the outcome. Maximum score: 5.0, minimum score: 1.0	Change from baseline in employment attitudes to immediately after program completion (7 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Midwest Evaluation & Research
• Collaborators: Avance Clinical Pty Ltd.
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Matt D Shepherd, PhD, Midwest Evaluation & Research

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 1, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): August 29, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 14, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 14, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): March 24, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 6, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 13, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: #2021/03/33

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: All participant data will be confidential and aggregated. No individual participant data will be released unless requested by the courts. This study looks at data as a whole.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No