Family Mediation Program For At-Risk Youth

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Family Functioning
• Interventions: Behavioral: Families Able To Resolve Situations (FARS)

• Registration Number: NCT01944748
• Lead Sponsor: RAND

Brief Summary

The goal of this project is to conduct a pilot evaluation of a parent-child mediation program for at-risk youth. It is investigating whether families who receive parent-child mediation show greater improvement in family functioning, as well as adolescent substance use, academic performance, and delinquency, over a 6-week and 12-week period compared to a wait-list control sample.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2011-07
• Study First Submitted: 2013-09-03
• Study First Submitted QC: 2013-09-13
• Study First Posted: 2013-09-18
• Primary Completion: 2015-02
• Status Verified: 2016-04
• Study Completion: 2016-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2016-04-05
• Last Update Posted: 2016-04-06

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 111

Inclusion Criteria

1. Has a child referred to FARS due to having problems in any of the following areas: (a) poor grades; (b) truancy; (c) defiant behavior; (d) running away; (e) delinquency; (f) substance use

2. Agrees to participate in at least one FARS mediation session

3. Agrees to complete 3 surveys and be available over the next 3 months for follow-up

4. Fluent in English or Spanish

Exclusion Criteria

Families referred to FARS due to: (a) conflicts involving gang violence (e.g., shootings, killings); (b) conflicts involving weapons; (c) arson; (d) conflicts involving explicit sex activities; (e) conflicts involving domestic violence/child abuse; and (f) threats to harm self or others.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Family Mediation	Families Able To Resolve Situations (FARS)	Families receive FARS family mediation program after completing baseline survey.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Positive Family Relations	12-week	6-item Positive Family Relations measure adapted from the Cohesion subscale of Moos \& Moos Family Environment Scale (Metzler et al., 1998; Journal of Family Psychology, 12, 600-619). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("not at all" to "very much") and averaged to create a scale score.
Parent Support	12-week	4-item measure (Wills et al., 2004; Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18, 122-134). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.
Family Conflict	12-week	5-item measure from the Family, Friends and Self (FFS) assessment scales (Simpson \& McBride, 1992; Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 14, 327-340). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.
Family Communication	12-week	10-item measure assessing open vs. problem communication (McCubbin, Thompson \& McCubbin, 1996; Family assessment: Resiliency, coping and adaptation - Inventories for research and practice. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Delinquency	12-weeks	13-item measure that includes items from Project ALERT and National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Items are rated on a 7-point scale ("0 days" to "20-30 days").
Lifetime and Past Month Substance Use	12-week	Number of times used in lifetime (range: "0 times" to "7 or more times") and number of days used in past month (range: "0 days" to "20-30-days") for each of the following substances: cigarettes; alcohol; marijuana; inhalants; any other illegal drug or pill to get high; over-the-counter medicines or OTCs to get high; and prescription medicines to get high.; Additional items ask about quantity of cigarette, alcohol and marijuana use on days used, as well as intentions to use each of these substances in next 6 months (4-point scale, ranging from "definitely yes" to "definitely no").
Academic Performance	12-week	Items ask about typical grades in past month (range: "mostly A's" to "mostly F's"), school attachment (4-item measure from National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health), highest level of school the youth plans to finish (range: "I may not finish high school" to "I plan to go to graduate or professional school"), number of days skipped school in past month, and history of suspension from school.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Centinela Youth Services; 🇺🇸 Hawthorne, California, United States