Development and Evaluation of a Preventive Intervention for Children with FASD

描述（由申请人提供）：克里斯蒂·麦吉·佩特伦科博士将于2011年7月加入罗彻斯特大学希望山家庭中心。她的长期目标是建立一个富有成效的研究方案，重点是预防产前酒精接触儿童的不良后果（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所概述的那样，一个多学科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。这些领域的高级培训将为Petrenko博士继续她的研究计划和促进她作为独立研究人员的发展奠定良好的基础。拟议的研究将纳入多种方法，以严格制定和评估产前酒精暴露儿童（K-2级）的预防性干预措施。建议干预的初步框架包括并发儿童和照顾者技能小组和个体化家庭倡导。干预将针对多种短期和长期结果，包括心理健康、学校适应、社会能力、犯罪、养育子女和家庭环境。干预前研究将为预防干预的内容和框架提供信息。具体而言，焦点小组将与主要的社区利益相关者（护理人员和帮助专业人员）一起进行，以评估感知到的需求和拟议干预的可接受性。一旦制定出量身定制的干预措施，将进行实施试验，以微调课程，并确保预防性干预措施对家庭来说是可行的和有吸引力的。干预措施将通过随机对照试验进行试点和评估。建议的预防性干预措施旨在提高产前酒精暴露儿童的能力和减少危险因素，并增加他们继续适应发展轨迹的可能性。这种干预措施有可能改善FASD儿童及其家庭的生活质量，并减少伴随产前酒精暴露给社会带来的重大成本。这项研究也将更广泛地应用于测试当前的发展精神病理学和预防科学理论，这将提高我们对适应不良行为的病因和可塑性的理解。

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.