Development and Evaluation of a Preventive Intervention for Children with FASD

描述（由申请人提供）：克里斯蒂麦基佩特连科博士将加入山的教师。2011年7月，罗切斯特大学的希望家庭中心。她的长期目标是建立一个富有成效的研究计划，重点是预防不良后果（例如，精神健康问题，法律问题，物质使用）在产前酒精暴露的儿童中。正如她的职业发展计划所述，一个多学科专家团队将为她提供多个领域的高级培训和指导，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并促进她作为独立研究人员的发展奠定良好的基础。拟议的研究将采用多种方法，严格制定和评估产前酒精暴露儿童（K-2级）的预防干预措施。拟议的干预措施的初步框架包括同时儿童和照顾者技能小组和个性化的家庭宣传。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，养育和家庭环境。干预前研究将为预防性干预的内容和框架提供信息。具体而言，将与关键的社区利益攸关方（护理人员和帮助专业人员）进行焦点小组讨论，以评估所感知的需求和拟议干预措施的可接受性。一旦制定了有针对性的干预措施，将进行实施试验，以微调课程，并确保预防性干预措施是可行的，并对家庭有吸引力。然后将通过随机对照试验对干预措施进行试点和评估。拟议的预防性干预措施旨在提高能力，减少产前酒精暴露儿童的风险因素，并增加他们继续适应性发展轨迹的可能性。这种干预有可能改善FASD儿童及其家庭的生活质量，并减少产前酒精暴露给社会带来的重大成本。这项研究也将被更广泛地应用于测试发展心理病理学和预防科学的当前理论，这将提高我们对适应不良行为的病因和可塑性的理解。 产前酒精暴露是一个主要的公共卫生问题，影响到1%的人口。不良后果，包括精神健康状况不佳，与法律的麻烦，不适当的性行为，和药物滥用是常见的个人暴露于酒精产前。拟议的预防性干预措施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.