We request funds for a study of child outcomes to supplement a currently funded randomized clinical trial (the Parent study) of an experimental intervention to provide scatter-site housing and services for homeless families. The experimental intervention is an adaptation for families of the Critical Time Intervention (CTI), an evidence-based practice originally designed for use with homeless single adult males with severe mental illness. The Parent study is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration as one of eight sites in a multi-site study, and is operating on the cross-site timetable. Participant enrollment began November 15th, 2001. The Parent study concentrates on the outcomes of the mothers, but there are theoretical reasons to believe that the major beneficiaries may be children. The County where the study is being conducted has agreed to base future decisions on the organization of services on results of this time-limited trial. Thus, the proposed Time-Sensitive study of 488 homeless children in 300 families will provide important knowledge that will be lost unless we begin immediately.
The specific aim of the proposed study is to understand how an alternative method for providing services and housing for homeless families affects the mental health and behavior of homeless children over a 15-month period. We hypothesize that intervention effects will be mediated by reductions in neighborhood risk, which in turn lead to lower levels of environmental stressors and increased support, by changes in mothers, which in turn improve parenting, and by services to children. We will employ multiple reporters (mothers, teachers/care givers, and the children themselves), depending on both the outcome and the age of the child. This project represents a collaborative effort between researchers at the Nathan Kline Institute's Center for the Study of Issues in Public Mental Health, and the Department of Psychology at New York University.
| Shinn, Marybeth; Samuels, Judith; Fischer, Sean N et al. (2015) Longitudinal Impact of a Family Critical Time Intervention on Children in High-Risk Families Experiencing Homelessness: A Randomized Trial. Am J Community Psychol 56:205-16 |
