KITS: School Readiness in Foster Care Efficacy Trial

描述(由申请人提供)：拟议研究的主要目标是进行一项预防性干预的随机疗效试验--儿童过渡到学校(KITS)计划--以提高学龄前寄养儿童的社会情感和学业准备。寄养儿童的社会和学业成绩不佳的风险很大。由于他们早年经历的逆境，这些孩子可能有特殊的脆弱性，这降低了他们成功过渡到学校的可能性。先前广泛的研究表明，慢性早期逆境与与自我调节和应激反应有关的关键神经系统功能(特别是前额叶皮质功能和下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴活动)的改变有关。这些系统的改变可能会干扰儿童与同龄人相处、保持注意力集中、听从指示和学习学习技能的能力。此外，由于这些孩子可能经历了多次生活转变，他们在照顾者参与学校方面可能处于劣势，这是早期学校成功的关键方面。寄养儿童(N=200)将在他们进入幼儿园前的春季被招募，并被随机分配到干预(n=100)和对照条件(“=100)。工具包干预包括四个部分：(A)28次儿童治疗性游戏小组，以促进自我调节、社交和紧急识字技能的发展；(B)一个6次会议的心理教育支助小组，以促进照顾者参与儿童紧急识字和学校教育，并使用有效的育儿方法；(C)系统的发育筛查和转介；以及(D)以家庭和学校为基础的行为咨询。这一干预恰逢进入幼儿园的过渡时期。将在基线、幼儿园入学和幼儿园后对儿童的社会情绪准备和识字技能进行多方法、多主体评估。我们将研究干预措施对入学准备和幼稚园成绩的直接影响。我们还将评估干预效果是否通过应激、反应和调节机制以及照顾者变量来调节。最后，我们将测试儿童和背景特征的调节效应，包括早期逆境(产前/新生儿健康、虐待史和安置史)、儿童认知功能和研究过程中的安置转变。这项研究的另一个探索性目的是检验干预对儿童亚样本一年级和二年级结果的影响。群体比较和纵向增长建模将允许对假设进行评估。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overarching goal of the proposed research is to conduct a randomized efficacy trial of a preventive intervention-the Kids in Transition to School (KITS) program-to enhance socioemotional and academic school readiness among preschool-aged foster children. Foster children are at great risk for poor social and academic school outcomes. Because of their experiences of early adversity, these children may have particular vulnerabilities that decrease the likelihood of a successful transition to school. Extensive prior research has shown that chronic early adversity is associated with alterations in the functioning of key neural systems (specifically, prefrontal cortex function and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity) related to self-regulation and stress reactivity. Alterations in these systems may interfere with children's abilities to relate to peers, to maintain focused attention, to follow directions, and to learn academic skills. Additionally, because these children are likely to have experienced multiple living transitions, they may be at a disadvantage in terms of caregiver involvement in school, a critical aspect of early school success. Foster children (N = 200) will be recruited in the spring before they enter kindergarten and will be randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 100) and comparison conditions (" = 100). The KITS intervention includes four components: (a) 28-sesssions of child therapeutic play groups to facilitate the development of self-regulatory, social, and emergent literacy skills; (b) a 6-session psychoeducational support group to promote caregiver involvement in the child's emergent literacy and schooling and the use of effective parenting techniques; (c) systematic developmental screening and referral; and (d) home- and school-based behavioral consultation. The intervention coincides with the transition into kindergarten. Multi-method, multi-agent assessments of the children's socioemotional readiness and literacy skills will be conducted at baseline, kindergarten entry, and post kindergarten. We will examine the direct effects of the intervention on school readiness and kindergarten outcomes. We will also assess whether intervention effects are mediated through mechanisms of stress reactivity and regulation and caregiver variables. Finally, we will test for moderator effects of child and contextual characteristics including early adversity (prenatal/neonatal health, maltreatment history and placement history), child cognitive functioning, and placement transitions during the course of the study. An additional exploratory aim of the study is to examine intervention effects on first and second grade outcomes for subsamples of children. Group comparisons and longitudinal growth modeling will allow for evaluation of hypotheses.