While it is estimated that 12% of the general population in the United States under 18 suffers from a mental disorder, estimates for socio- economically disadvantaged children are 20% or higher. Unfortunately, these at-risk children often do not receive needed mental health services because of a lack of accessible services, or because their families lack the resources to obtain services. Thus, increased access for this population is critical. However, increased access to services will not alone be sufficient to meet this population's mental health needs: Effective services must be provided. The purpose of the proposed study is to: (1) increase the accessibility of children's mental health services by providing them in the children's schools; and (2) determine whether teachers can serve as an effective therapeutic proxy for parents, given that in many instances environmental conditions (e.g., living in high- stress neighborhoods) make it difficult or impossible for parents to be involved in their children's services. To achieve these objectives, children in need of but not currently receiving mental health services will be selected from 3 schools in the Metro Nashville School System serving high-risk neighborhoods. These children will be chosen based on severity and breadth of psychopathology (i.e., they will be comorbid for internalizing and-externalizing problems), and randomly assigned to receive: (1) research-based, time-limited, structured mental health services containing a parent-training component; (2) research-based, time- limited, structured mental health services containing a teacher-training component; or (3) a no-services control group. All subjects, as well as their peers, will receive five assessments of their behavioral, emotional and social functioning using a multi-domain, multi-informant assessment procedure. Analyses of these data will determine whether teacher-training programs are as effective as parent-training programs in reducing children's mental health problems. The long term goals of this research program are to develop and evaluate a series of empirically-derived children's mental health services that are appropriate for use and effective in a variety of clinical settings, including outpatient clinics and the public school system.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01MH054237-01
Application #
2254557
Study Section
Services Research Review Committee (SER)
Project Start
1995-09-15
Project End
1999-08-31
Budget Start
1995-09-15
Budget End
1996-08-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
1995
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Department
Type
Organized Research Units
DUNS #
004413456
City
Nashville
State
TN
Country
United States
Zip Code
37212
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Caron, Annalise; Weiss, Bahr; Harris, Vicki et al. (2006) Parenting behavior dimensions and child psychopathology: specificity, task dependency, and interactive relations. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 35:34-45
Han, Susan S; Catron, Thomas; Weiss, Bahr et al. (2005) A teacher-consultation approach to social skills training for pre-kindergarten children: treatment model and short-term outcome effects. J Abnorm Child Psychol 33:681-93
Weiss, Bahr; Caron, Annalise; Ball, Shelly et al. (2005) Iatrogenic effects of group treatment for antisocial youths. J Consult Clin Psychol 73:1036-44
Walden, Tedra A; Harris, Vicki S; Catron, Thomas F (2003) How I feel: a self-report measure of emotional arousal and regulation for children. Psychol Assess 15:399-412
Weiss, Bahr; Harris, Vicki; Catron, Thomas et al. (2003) Efficacy of the RECAP intervention program for children with concurrent internalizing and externalizing problems. J Consult Clin Psychol 71:364-74
Weiss, Bahr; Garber, Judy (2003) Developmental differences in the phenomenology of depression. Dev Psychopathol 15:403-30
Weiss, Bahr; Harris, Vicki; Catron, Thomas (2002) Development and initial validation of the peer-report measure of internalizing and externalizing behavior. J Abnorm Child Psychol 30:285-94
Han, S S; Weisz, J R; Weiss, B (2001) Specificity of relations between children's control-related beliefs and internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. J Consult Clin Psychol 69:240-51
Weiss, B; Catron, T; Harris, V (2000) A 2-year follow-up of the effectiveness of traditional child psychotherapy. J Consult Clin Psychol 68:1094-101

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