Evaluation of self-determination enhancement for adolescents in foster care

寄养青少年自决能力增强评估

• 批准号: 8300251
• 负责人: Sarah Geenen
• 金额: $ 56.42万
• 依托单位: PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-08-15 至 2015-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8300251
• 关键词: Academic achievement; Adherence; Adolescent; Adopted; Adult; Age; Age-Years; Aging; Area; Attention; Caring; Communities; Community Services; Consensus; Control Groups; Controlled Study; County; Criminal Justice; Data; Development; Distal; Educational Status; Educational workshop; Effectiveness; Elements; Employment; Enrollment; Evaluation; Evidence based practice; Exhibits; Failure; Family; Fostering; Gender; General Population; Goals; Health; Homelessness; Housing; Independent Living; Instruction; Intervention; Interview; Investigation; Life; Measures; Mediating; Mediator of activation protein; Mental Health; Mentors; Modeling; Nature; Oregon; Outcome; Phase; Pilot Projects; Policies; Preparation; Process; Protocols documentation; Quality of life; Race; Randomized; Records; Recruitment Activity; Reporting; Resources; Risk; Runaway; Schools; Self Determination; Series; Services; Single Parent; Special Education; Stressful Event; Surface; Symptoms; System; Telephone; Testing; Theoretical model; Time; Trauma; Treatment Efficacy; Unemployment; United States; Work; Yang; Youth; care systems; college; comparison group; design; disability; efficacy trial; experience; follow-up; foster care; foster home; group intervention; high risk sexual behavior; high school; improved; interest; intervention effect; longitudinal design; meetings; mental health education; peer; post intervention; programs; skills; stability testing; success

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Each year, approximately 24,000 youth age-out of foster care on their own. Many of these youth begin independent adult life with little or no help from family, few community connections and virtually no financial resources. A significant percentage of foster youth (approximately 40%) experience a disability and few are prepared for the sudden entry into adulthood-with little support-that emancipated foster youth frequently experience. The troubling transition outcomes of foster youth exiting care have received national attention and in 1999 the Foster Care Independence Act (FCIA) doubled the federal money states receive to provide foster youth with independent living services. Unfortunately however, there have been no randomized or quasi- controlled studies evaluating the effectiveness of services for youth exiting foster care. In contrast, practices for improving the transition outcomes of youth with disabilities have been well studied and self determination enhancement has surfaced as one of the most recognized factors associated with improved adult outcomes. To gather preliminary data on the feasibility of implementing a self-determination enhancement intervention with youth in foster care, and the potential efficacy it has on transition outcomes for this group of at-risk youth, a pilot study using a 2 groups X 3 repeated measures design was conducted in Oregon (entitled My Life). Data from the initial study reveal that youth in the intervention group experienced increases in self-determination, rates of employment, involvement in transition planning and overall quality of life. Given these positive findings, the purpose of the current study is to implement a full-scale efficacy trial of the My Life program. Conducted in partnership with the Oregon DHS Foster Care Program, the impact of the intervention will be being evaluated with a randomized experimental longitudinal design. Two hundred and ten youth, ages 16.5-17.5, will be enrolled in 3 waves, and randomly assigned to either a comparison group that receives typical foster care services or to a treatment group that participates in the key elements of the model, including instruction in self-determination skills, support in leading their own coordinated inter-agency transition planning meetings, and participation in workshops with mentors. Outcomes, including youth self-determination, quality of life, employment, mental health, educational achievement and independent living, are assessed pre- intervention, at the conclusion of intervention, and at 12 months post-intervention. The proposed study will provide important information on the efficacy of the model for all youth exiting the foster care system, yielding unequivocal data on whether enhanced self-determination mediates, at least partially, various outcome areas, including mental health, educational achievement, employment, independent living, and quality of life; evaluating the effect of special education status, gender, and race as moderating influences on the impact of the intervention. Foster care experiences, such as trauma and placement instability, will be considered as covariates; direct effects of the intervention on these key foster care experiences will also be explored.

描述（由申请人提供）：每年，大约有 24,000 名青少年独自脱离寄养。这些青少年中的许多人在很少或根本没有家庭帮助、社区联系和几乎没有经济资源的情况下开始独立的成年生活。很大比例的寄养青少年（约 40%）患有残疾，很少有人准备好在几乎没有支持的情况下突然进入成年，而解放的寄养青少年经常经历这种情况。寄养青少年退出护理所带来的令人不安的过渡结果引起了全国的关注，1999 年，寄养青少年独立法案 (FCIA) 将各州为向寄养青少年提供独立生活服务而获得的联邦资金增加了一倍。然而不幸的是，还没有随机或半对照研究来评估对退出寄养青少年的服务的有效性。相比之下，改善残疾青少年过渡结果的做法已得到充分研究，增强自决力已成为与改善成人结果相关的最受认可的因素之一。为了收集关于对寄养青少年实施增强自决干预措施的可行性的初步数据，以及它对这组高危青少年过渡结果的潜在功效，在俄勒冈州进行了一项采用 2 组 X 3 重复措施设计的试点研究（题为“我的生活”）。初步研究的数据显示，干预组中的年轻人的自决权、就业率、参与过渡计划和整体生活质量都有所提高。 鉴于这些积极的发现，当前研究的目的是对“我的生活”计划进行全面的功效试验。该干预措施与俄勒冈州国土安全部寄养计划合作进行，将通过随机实验纵向设计来评估干预措施的影响。 210 名年龄在 16.5 岁至 17.5 岁之间的青少年将分 3 批入组，并随机分配到接受典型寄养服务的对照组或参与该模型关键要素的治疗组，包括自我决定技能的指导、支持领导自己协调的机构间过渡规划会议以及与导师一起参加研讨会。干预前、干预结束时以及干预后 12 个月对结果进行评估，包括青年自决、生活质量、就业、心理健康、教育成就和独立生活。拟议的研究将提供有关该模式对所有离开寄养系统的青少年的有效性的重要信息，并提供明确的数据，说明增强的自决权是否至少部分地介导各种成果领域，包括心理健康、教育成就、就业、独立生活和生活质量；评估特殊教育状况、性别和种族对干预效果的调节作用。寄养经历，例如创伤和安置不稳定，将被视为协变量；还将探讨干预措施对这些关键寄养经历的直接影响。