Children in the foster care system are growing in number, are at high risk for psychological problems, and are increasingly challenging to their foster parents. Foster parents who are trying to provide care and nurturing to these children are often doing so without benefit of meaningful or relevant consultation on developmental and mental health issues. The proposed study would test the effectiveness of an intervention intended to increase supports and consultation to foster parents. A major aim of this study is to test the transferability of the proposed intervention from Oregon to the foster care system in San Diego in six regions of Health and Human Services. A cascading dissemination model is proposed where, the original developers will train and supervise staff in San Diego to implement the intervention, and in the second iteration of the implementation, the involvement of the original developers will lessen. The intervention is designed to provide foster parents with general support and specific parent management training (PMT), a well- documented and effective intervention approach. PMT has been shown to produce positive outcomes in numerous clinical trials with diverse populations of youngsters from preschoolers to adolescents. In addition, in a previous efficacy trial, PMT had positive effects with foster parents in three areas: (1) reduction of child symptoms, (2) lower rates of disruptions in foster care (changes in placements for negative reasons), and (3) fewer foster parents in the PMT condition dropped out of providing foster care. Outcomes will be evaluated at multiple levels, including child symptoms, functional behavior, environments, consumer perspectives, and system using a multi- method/multi-agent strategy. Implementation fidelity will be assessed, as will contextual factors, including the organizational climate and social isolation/insularity of the foster parents. It is hypothesized that, compared to controls, foster parents in the intervention group will improve on parenting skills, feel more supported, and have less stress which will in turn result in more positive child outcomes, including fewer reported child symptoms and higher levels of child functional behavior in three domains (i.e, home, school, with peers). Improvements in foster parent outcomes and child outcomes are both hypothesized to predict system-level outcomes, including child use of mental health services, foster parent retention, and placement disruptions. Contextual factors are expected to impact foster parent outcomes directly and child and system outcomes indirectly, through implementation fidelity.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH060195-04
Application #
6607511
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-SRV-C (01))
Program Officer
Vitiello, Benedetto
Project Start
2000-07-24
Project End
2005-06-30
Budget Start
2003-07-01
Budget End
2004-06-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$731,631
Indirect Cost
Name
Oregon Social Learning Center, Inc.
Department
Type
DUNS #
084418656
City
Eugene
State
OR
Country
United States
Zip Code
97401
Perry, Kristin J; Price, Joseph M (2018) Concurrent child history and contextual predictors of children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in foster care. Child Youth Serv Rev 84:125-136
Price, Joseph M; Roesch, Scott; Walsh, Natalia E et al. (2015) Effects of the KEEP Foster Parent Intervention on Child and Sibling Behavior Problems and Parental Stress During a Randomized Implementation Trial. Prev Sci 16:685-95
Buchanan, Rohanna; Chamberlain, Patricia; Price, Joseph M et al. (2013) Examining the equivalence of fidelity over two generations of KEEP implementation: A preliminary analysis. Child Youth Serv Rev 35:188-193
Goldhaber-Fiebert, Jeremy D; Bailey, Stephanie L; Hurlburt, Michael S et al. (2012) Evaluating child welfare policies with decision-analytic simulation models. Adm Policy Ment Health 39:466-77
Price, Joseph M; Roesch, Scott; Walsh, Natalia Escobar (2012) Effectiveness of the KEEP Foster Parent Intervention during an Implementation Trial. Child Youth Serv Rev 34:2487-2494
Degarmo, David S; Chamberlain, Patricia; Leve, Leslie D et al. (2009) Foster Parent Intervention Engagement Moderating Child Behavior Problems and Placement Disruption. Res Soc Work Pract 19:423-433
Leve, Leslie D; Fisher, Philip A; Chamberlain, Patricia (2009) Multidimensional treatment foster care as a preventive intervention to promote resiliency among youth in the child welfare system. J Pers 77:1869-902
Chamberlain, Patricia; Price, Joseph; Reid, John et al. (2008) Cascading implementation of a foster and kinship parent intervention. Child Welfare 87:27-48
Chamberlain, Patricia; Price, Joe; Leve, Leslie D et al. (2008) Prevention of behavior problems for children in foster care: outcomes and mediation effects. Prev Sci 9:17-27
Price, Joseph M; Chamberlain, Patricia; Landsverk, John et al. (2008) Effects of a foster parent training intervention on placement changes of children in foster care. Child Maltreat 13:64-75

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