Developing a Substance Abuse and College Support Intervention for Foster Youth

描述(由申请人提供)：这一发展性R21旨在开发一种预防性干预措施，借鉴社会发展模式，以减少药物滥用和滥用的后果，并改善高中后教育机会和留住双重易受药物滥用和教育程度较低的人群：青少年脱离寄养。现有的大多数针对脱离照料的青年老龄化的方案都是分散的，没有合作开发或“系统就绪”，未能解决进入高中后教育的青年的重要发展和预防药物滥用的需要。由于缺乏经过严格检验的、有效的预防计划，以及针对适龄风险和保护因素的系统准备就绪的综合模式，以加强教育支持，防止/减少药物滥用和这一人群中滥用药物的后果，我们提出了一种创新的方法，以发展积极支持青少年老龄化的综合模式。该项目的具体目标是：(1)开发一种预防干预方法，减少风险因素，加强对药物滥用的保护，并增加退出寄养系统的年轻人在中学后获得机会和成功的机会；以及(2)与社区利益攸关方和脱离寄养的青年一起测试干预措施的可用性和可行性，为更严格的测试(例如R01)做准备。干预措施将包括基本的物质使用预防规划、专业教育倡导和以大学为重点的指导。这些干预方法针对与寄养青年中的青少年滥用药物和中学后学业成功有关的各种因素，包括参与和致力于亲社会活动和互动、教育监测和支持以及中学后教育互动的技能等。干预开发和可行性测试，在Weisz及其同事的以部署为重点的干预开发和测试模型的指导下，包括召开一个专家工作组和一系列焦点小组，并与俄勒冈州和华盛顿州的儿童福利和独立生活从业者、有寄养经验的年轻人、大学人员和其他社区利益相关者一起对可用性和可行性进行测试，以开发并使标准化干预方法具体化。我们的目标是开发一个可行的模型，准备在R01严格的随机对照试验中进行测试。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This developmental R21 is designed to develop a preventive intervention informed by the social development model to reduce substance abuse and the consequences of misuse and improve post-high school education access and retention of a population doubly vulnerable to substance abuse and poor educational attainment: youth aging out of foster care. Most of the existing programs that target youth aging out of care are fragmented, not collaboratively developed or "system-ready", and fail to address the important developmental and substance abuse prevention needs of youth moving into post-high school education. Because of a lack of rigorously tested, effective prevention programs with youth aging out of foster care and the lack of system-ready comprehensive models that target age-appropriate risk and protective factors to strengthen educational supports and prevent/reduce substance misuse and the consequences of misuse among this population, we offer an innovative approach to developing a comprehensive model for positive support for youth aging out of foster care. The specific aims of this project are to (1) develop a prevention intervention approach that reduces risk factors, increases protection from substance misuse, and increases postsecondary access and success for young people exiting the foster care system; and (2) test the intervention's usability and feasibility with community stakeholders and youth aging out of foster care to prepare for a more rigorous test (e.g. R01). The intervention will include BASICS substance use prevention programming, professional educational advocacy, and college-focused mentoring. These intervention approaches address a variety of factors found to be associated with young adult substance misuse and postsecondary academic success among foster youth, including involvement in and commitment to prosocial activities and interactions, educational monitoring and support, and skills for postsecondary educational interaction, among others. Intervention development and feasibility testing, guided by Weisz and colleagues' Deployment-Focused Model of Intervention Development and Testing, includes the convening of an expert workgroup and a series of focus groups and tests of usability and feasibility with child welfare and independent living practitioners, young people with foster care experience, college personnel, and other community stakeholders in both Oregon and Washington to develop and manualize a standardized intervention approach. The goal is to develop a feasible model that is ready to be tested in an R01 rigorous randomized controlled trial.