A Family Intervention for Adolescent Problem Behavior

描述(由申请人提供)：在过去的15年里，我们开发、实施并测试了一项干预计划的有效性，该计划旨在减少问题行为，并在中学期间提高家庭管理技能。青少年过渡计划(ATP)是一个多层次的、以学校为基础的干预措施，旨在通过加强家庭管理技能和家长参与来减少问题行为。拟议研究的目标是从经验上改进和改进以家庭为中心的全面预防战略，以减少和预防青少年药物使用和其他问题行为。我们以前在公立学校工作的研究和实践经验表明，我们需要在三个关键领域改进ATP，以巩固先前的显著效果，并增强未来传播和大规模实施的潜力：(A)通过扩大干预组成部分并将这些组成部分系统地嵌入学校当前的行为支持系统，提高干预的普遍水平和指示水平的可行性；(B)解决从初中到高中的过渡问题，特别注意学术参与和减少不正常的同龄人聚集，并：(C)明确将成功干预不同族裔群体的家庭和青少年的原则纳入我们的普遍模式和指定模式。最后，总体目标是开发、测试和改进一套以研究为基础的工具，以促进对干预保真度的评估、培训、实施和监测，以最大限度地提高实施和大规模传播的潜在成功。在这项拟议的研究中，我们计划在俄勒冈州波特兰的3所不同的中学工作，抽样约540名年轻人。家庭将被随机分配到接受ATP计划或照常接受治疗。在我们的实验小组内，我们将进一步完善我们的干预措施，通过新的文化增强的家庭检查来加强不同种族群体的参与。评估将在5年内收集到10年级。高中过渡计划和密集干预努力将在7-9年级进行。这一干预措施的直接影响将在9年级和10年级期间进行评估。我们假设我们的干预将通过加强家庭管理和家长在学校的参与来减少问题行为和物质使用的增长。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Over the past 15 years, we have developed, implemented, and tested the efficacy of an intervention program designed to reduce problem behavior and enhance family management skills during the middle-school years. The Adolescent Transitions Program (ATP) is a multitiered, school-based intervention designed to reduce problem behavior by enhancing family management skills and parent involvement. The goal for the proposed research is to empirically refine and improve a comprehensive family-centered prevention strategy for reducing and preventing adolescent substance use and other problem behaviors. It is clear from our previous research and practical experience working in the public-school setting that we need to improve ATP in three critical areas to build on previous significant effects and enhance the potential for future dissemination and large-scale implementation: (a) improve the feasibility of both the universal level and the indicated level of the intervention by broadening the intervention components and systematically embedding these components into the current behavioral support system in the schools; (b) address the transition from middle to high school, with special attention to academic engagement and reduction of deviant peer clustering, and: (c) explicitly incorporate principles of successful interventions with families and young adolescents of diverse ethnic groups into both our universal and indicated models. Finally, a general goal is to develop, test, and refine a set of research-based instruments that facilitate evaluation, training, implementation, and monitoring of intervention fidelity to maximize the potential success of implementation and large-scale dissemination. In the proposed research, we plan to work within 3 different middle schools in Portland, Oregon, with a sample of approximately 540 youth. Families will be assigned randomly to receive either the ATP program or treatment as usual. Within our experimental group, we will refine further our intervention to enhance engagement across different ethnic groups with a new Culturally Enhanced Family Check-Up. Assessments will be collected for 5 years through the 10th grade. High-school transition planning and intensive intervention efforts will occur in Grades 7-9. The immediate impact of this intervention will be assessed during the 9th- and l0th-grade years. We hypothesize that our intervention will reduce the growth of problem behavior and substance use through the enhancement of family management and parent involvement in school.