Early Prevention of Youth Violence Among Foster Children

描述（改编自申请人的摘要）：尽管早期儿童攻击和后来的青少年暴力之间存在很强的联系，但对在寄养家庭中长大的年轻（< 10岁）城市非裔美国人和拉丁裔受虐待儿童的有效儿童暴力预防的宣传和传播却很少受到关注。对纽约市128个生养家庭和寄养家庭的研究结果表明，接受新开发的双组分（父母和共同抚养）家庭干预的照顾者在积极养育、支持性共同养育方面有所改善，儿童行为问题也有降低的趋势。初步研究支持了对寄养人员进行培训的可行性，即在其机构内提供人工干预，在干预期间留住家庭，并获得较高的消费者满意度。PI建议对两个现有的、协议驱动的、经验支持的儿童项目（迪娜恐龙的幼儿社会技能和问题解决课程和儿童俱乐部：家庭暴力儿童干预小组）进行调整、整合和实验评估。该项目将：(1)研究为期12周的儿童干预对减少寄养家庭和课堂中早期身体攻击及其相关因素（社会能力、情绪调节和暴力社会认知问题）的短期影响；减少寄养安置的不稳定性；(2)探讨实施质量（剂量和依从性）和儿童攻击初始水平对干预效果的影响。纽约市的志愿寄养机构建立了强大的社区网络，以实现该项目的目标。样本由102名寄养儿童（5-8岁）组成，他们被证实被忽视，遭受家庭暴力或身体虐待，居住在六个机构中。将使用随机现场试验将儿童分配到干预组（n=62）或“常规护理”组（n=40）。主要结果包括早期身体攻击和相关行为的测量，以及在测试前、测试后和3个月的随访中由多个代理（儿童、养父母、训练有素的观察员和教师）和跨环境（寄养家庭、教室）评估的安置稳定性。

DESCRIPTION (adapted from applicant's abstract): Little attention has been given to the promotion and dissemination of effective childhood violence prevention for young (< 10 years of age) urban African American and Latino maltreated children raised in foster homes, despite the strong linkages between early childhood aggression and later youth violence. Promising findings with 128 biological and foster families in New York City demonstrated improvement in positive parenting, supportive co-parenting, and trends for lower child behavior problems for caregivers receiving a newly developed two-component (parenting and co-parenting) family intervention. Preliminary studies support the feasibility of training foster care staff in manualized interventions delivered in their agency, retaining families through the duration of the intervention, and obtaining high ratings of consumer satisfaction. The PI proposes to adapt, integrate, and experimentally evaluate a child-centered intervention of two existing, protocol-driven, empirically-supported child programs (The Dina Dinosaur's Curriculum for Young Children Social Skills and Problem Solving and the Kids Club: An Intervention Group for Children Exposed to Domestic Violence). The project will: (1) examine the short-term impact of the 12-week child intervention on the reduction of early physical aggression and its correlates (problems in social competence, emotional regulation, and social cognitions about violence) in the foster home, and classroom; and the reduction of foster placement instability; and (2) explore the impact of quality of implementation (dosage and adherence), and initial level of child aggression on intervention effects. Strong community networks are established with volunteering foster care agencies in New York City to accomplish the aims of this project. The sample consists of 102 foster children (ages 5-8 years) with substantiated neglect, exposure to domestic violence or physical abuse nested within six agencies. A randomized field trial will be used to assign children to the intervention (n=62) or a 'usual care' comparison (n=40) condition. Primary outcomes include measures of early physical aggression and behavior correlates, and the stability of the placement assessed by multiple agents (the child, foster parent, trained observer, and teacher) and across settings (foster home, classroom) at pre-test, post-test, and 3 months follow-up.