This investigation evaluates a preventive intervention for bereaved children. The intervention includes a parenting-focused program and a parallel coping enhancement program for children. The prevention program is intended to modify four specific risk and protective factors, (i.e., parental warmth, stable positive events, negative life events, and parent demoralization) that have been found in the Center's previous research to mediate the effects of parental death on childrens' symptoms, and to improve a fifth putative mediator, children's coping skills. The intervention builds on a previously developed family-based program (Sandler et al., 1991, see Appendix A). A randomized field trial of the earlier prevention program showed some positive effects, particularly with older children. The present program improves on the previous one by: a) inclusion of separate parent and child intervention components; b) use of separate groups with age-appropriate teaching methods for preadolescent and adolescent children; and c) 1-year followup outcome evaluation.
Specific aims of the study are to: 1) assess the effectiveness of a multi- component preventive intervention for bereaved children in producing: a) changes in the family environment mediating variables and children's coping and, b) changes in childrens' depression and conduct disorder; 2) assess program impact on family environment mediators, coping, and mental health outcomes separately for younger (aged 8-12 years) and older (aged 13-16) children; 3) assess maintenance of program effects on mediators and symptomatology 1 year after intervention; 4) separately test theoretical models by using the cross- sectional pre-test data that relate family environment variables and coping variables to mental health symptoms; 5) test the theoretical model whereby the family environment and coding variables affect mental health symptoms using mediational analysis of the effects of the intervention program; and 6) assess factors which determine program participation.
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