Intervention to Enhance Coping and Help-seeking Among Youth in Foster Care

Part of paid clinical trials in Portland, Oregon.

Sponsor
Portland State University
Study ID
NCT06019377
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Adolescent Behavior
  • Anxiety
  • Child Welfare
  • Coping Behavior
  • Depression
  • Emotion Regulation
  • Help-Seeking Behavior
  • Psychosocial Functioning
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
  • Utilization, Health Care

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
16 Years - 20 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Not accepted

Interventions

  • Stronger Youth Networks and Coping (SYNC) — BEHAVIORAL
    SYNC is a 8-module online curriculum adapted from evidence-based cognitive change methods, including Coping Effectiveness Training (CET), co-facilitated by service providers in Independent Living Programs (ILPs; federally-funded transition skill-building services accessed by most foster youth in the US) and near-peers (have lived experience in foster care). SYNC aims to increase youth capacity to appraise stress and regulate emotional responses, to flexibly select adaptive coping strategies, and to specifically promote informal and formal help-seeking as an effective coping strategy.

Study Details

This study will deploy a scalable secondary prevention program that leverages existing foster youth transition services to improve mental health functioning and service use before and after exiting foster care. Our short-term objective is to remotely test a group intervention called Stronger Youth Networks and Coping (SYNC) that targets cognitive schemas influencing stress responses, including mental health help-seeking and service engagement, among foster youth with behavioral health risk. SYNC aims to increase youth capacity to appraise stress and regulate emotional responses, to flexibly select adaptive coping strategies, and to promote informal and formal help-seeking as an effective coping strategy. The proposed aims will establish whether the 10-module program engages the targeted proximal mechanisms with a signal of efficacy on clinically-relevant outcomes, and whether a fully-powered randomized control trial (RCT) of SYNC is feasible in the intended service context. Our first aim is to refine our SYNC curriculum and training materials, prior to testing SYNC in a remote single-arm trial with two cohorts of 8-10 Oregon foster youth aged 16-20 (N=26). Our second aim is to conduct a remote two-arm individually-randomized group treatment trial with Oregon foster youth aged 16-20 with indicated behavioral health risk (N=80) to examine: (a) intervention group change on proximal mechanisms of coping self-efficacy and help-seeking attitudes, compared to services-as-usual at post-intervention and 6-month follow-up: and (b) association between the mechanisms and targeted outcomes, including emotional regulation, coping behaviors, mental health service use, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Our third aim is to refine and standardize the intervention and research protocol for an effectiveness trial, including confirming transferability with national stakeholders.

Key Dates

Start date
Apr 22, 2024
Status verified
Feb 2025
Primary completion
Mar 31, 2026
Completion
Aug 1, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
106 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION

Arms

  • Experimental: Intervention
    The Intervention group receives the SYNC intervention in addition to typical child welfare services (i.e., services as usual). The SYNC intervention includes 8 weekly remote (videoconference) 90-minute sessions delivered by a facilitator and a near-peer young adult aged 20-26, both with lived experience in child welfare.
  • No Intervention: Services-as-usual
    The Services-as-usual (SAU) group receives typical child welfare services, which include ILP, or federally funded transition planning (e.g., identifying and supporting youth education and employment goals) and life skills (e.g., budgeting, renting an apartment, insurance) services typically delivered through a mix of classes, group activities, and/or individual skill-building with a paraprofessional service provider.

Primary Outcome Measure

Cognitive control and coping flexibility [ Time Frame: immediately after program completion, 6 months after program completion ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
Portland State UniversityPortlandOregon97201
Jennifer Blakeslee, PhD,MSW,BS
[email protected]
503-725-8389
Brianne H Kothari, PhD,MA,BA (SUB_INVESTIGATOR)
Carrie J Furrer, PhD,MS,BA (SUB_INVESTIGATOR)

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