Development and Evaluation of a Preventive Intervention for Children with FASD

描述(由申请人提供)：克里斯蒂·麦基·佩伦科博士将加入Mt.2011年7月，罗切斯特大学霍普家庭中心。她的长期目标是建立一个富有成效的研究计划，专注于预防产前酒精暴露儿童的不良后果(例如，精神健康问题、法律问题、药物使用)。正如她的职业发展计划中概述的那样，一个多学科的专家团队将在几个领域为她提供高级培训和指导，包括：预防科学、发展精神病理学、干预设计和实施、随机对照试验和纵向方法学。这些领域的高级培训将为佩伦科博士继续她的研究计划并促进她作为一名独立研究员的发展奠定良好的基础。拟议的研究将结合多种方法，严格开发和评估针对产前酒精暴露(K-2级)儿童的预防性干预措施。拟议干预措施的初步框架包括同步进行的儿童和照顾者技能小组以及个性化的家庭宣传。这项干预将针对多种短期和长期结果，包括心理健康、学校适应、社交能力、青少年犯罪、育儿和家庭环境。干预前研究将为预防干预的内容和框架提供信息。具体地说，将与主要社区利益攸关方(护理人员和帮助专业人员)一起开展焦点小组，以评估感知的需求和拟议干预措施的可接受性。一旦制定了量身定制的干预措施，将进行一项实施试验，以微调课程，并确保预防性干预对家庭是可行的和参与的。随后将通过随机对照试验对干预措施进行试点和评估。拟议的预防干预旨在提高产前酒精暴露儿童的能力和减少危险因素，并增加他们继续走上适应性发展轨道的可能性。这一干预措施有可能改善FASD儿童及其家庭的生活质量，并降低伴随着产前酒精暴露而给社会带来的巨大成本。这项研究还将被更广泛地应用于检验发展精神病理学和预防科学的现有理论，这将提高我们对适应不良行为的病因学和延展性的理解。 公共卫生相关性：产前酒精暴露是一个主要的公共卫生问题，影响到多达1%的人口。不良后果包括精神健康不良、触犯法律、不适当的性行为和药物滥用，在产前接触酒精的人中很常见。拟议的预防性干预有可能改善受影响个人及其家庭的生活质量，并降低社区和整个社会的成本。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dr. Christie McGee Petrenko will be joining the faculty of the Mt. Hope Family Center at the University of Rochester in July 2011. Her long-term goal is to establish a productive program of research focusing on the prevention of adverse outcomes (e.g., mental health problems, trouble with the law, substance use) in children with prenatal alcohol exposure. As outlined in her Career Development Plan, a multidisciplinary team of experts will provide her with advanced training and mentoring in several areas, including: prevention science, developmental psychopathology, intervention design and implementation, randomized controlled trials, and longitudinal methodology. Advanced training in these areas will serve as an excellent foundation for Dr. Petrenko to continue her program of research and foster her development as an independent researcher. The proposed research will incorporate multiple methods to rigorously develop and evaluate a preventive intervention for children with prenatal alcohol exposure (grades K-2). The preliminary framework of the proposed intervention includes concurrent child and caregiver skills groups and individualized family advocacy. The intervention will target multiple short- and long-term outcomes, including mental health, school adjustment, social competence, delinquency, parenting, and home environment. Pre-intervention research will inform the content and framework of the preventive intervention. Specifically, focus groups will be conducted with key community stakeholders (caregivers and helping professionals) to evaluate perceived needs and the acceptability of the proposed intervention. Once a tailored intervention is developed, an implementation trial will be conducted to fine-tune the curriculum and ensure the preventive intervention is feasible and engaging for families. The intervention will then be piloted and evaluated through a randomized controlled trial. The proposed preventive intervention aims to improve competence and reduce risk factors for children with prenatal alcohol exposure and increase the likelihood that they will continue on an adaptive developmental trajectory. This intervention has the potential to improve the quality of life for children with FASD and their families and reduce the significant costs to society that accompany prenatal alcohol exposure. This research will also be applied more broadly to test current theories of developmental psychopathology and prevention science, which will improve our understanding of the etiology and malleability of maladaptive behaviors. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Prenatal alcohol exposure is a major public health concern and affects up to 1% of the population. Adverse outcomes including poor mental health, trouble with the law, inappropriate sexual behavior, and substance abuse are common in individuals exposed to alcohol prenatally. The proposed preventive intervention has the potential to improve the quality of lives of affected individuals and their families and reduce costs to the community and society as a whole.