The purpose of this competing continuation application is to test the effectiveness of a parent/teacher collaborative model of INSIGHTS in not only reducing child behavior problems, but also in enhancing parent, child, and teacher competency. Currently INSIGHTS consists of three parallel programs for the parent, teacher, and child participants. Based on data from the partnering inner city school district, the parallel model currently in use will be refined into a collaborative model.
The specific aims of this continuation study are: 1) Generate knowledge on the family and school risk and protective processes that influence inner city children's competency; 2) Compare the effectiveness of a collaborative versus parallel model of INSIGHTS in reducing child behavior problems and in enhancing the competency of parents, teachers, and children; and 3) Explore the child, parent, and teacher factors which contribute to differential intervention effectiveness. Four inner city schools will host either the collaborative or parallel models of INSIGHTS. The participants will be 244-minority kindergarten to second grade children, their parents, and their teachers. This clinical trial will be conducted in three stages: baseline, a twelve-week intervention, and follow-up immediately post-intervention and six months and one year later. Triangulation of observation, self-reports, and interview techniques that focus on competency will be used in addition to those that measure child behavior problems. Various portions of the data will be subjected to multivariate and qualitative analysis. The proposed grant is responsive to NINR's Health Disparities Strategic Plan intended to enhance the health of minority populations. The findings from this study are anticipated to prepare INSIGHTS to be widely disseminated as an effective school-based prevention intervention for inner-city children, their parents, and their teachers. ? ?
