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Completed

NCT Number: NCT01944748

Family Mediation Program For At-Risk Youth

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.

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Key information

Conditions

Family Functioning

Age range

12 year–19 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Centinela Youth Services

Hawthorne, California, 90250, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • 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
  • Agrees to participate in at least one FARS mediation session
  • Agrees to complete 3 surveys and be available over the next 3 months for follow-up
  • Fluent in English or Spanish

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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.

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Treatment and study plan

Families Able To Resolve Situations (FARS)

Behavioral

Family mediation is a method of resolving conflicts between parents and teens. During the mediation session, the parent and teen each meet one-on-one with a trained volunteer mediator, who is a neutral person who listens to each party's concerns without taking sides. Then the parent and teen come together and meet with this mediator to work on resolving conflicts they are having. Families participate in up to 3 mediation sessions.

Primary outcomes

  1. Positive Family Relations

    Time frame: 6-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.

  2. Family Conflict

    Time frame: 6-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.

  3. Family Communication

    Time frame: 6-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.

  4. Parent Support

    Time frame: 6-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.

  5. Positive Family Relations

    Time frame: 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.

  6. Family Conflict

    Time frame: 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.

  7. Family Communication

    Time frame: 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.

  8. Parent Support

    Time frame: 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.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Lifetime and Past Month Substance Use

    Time frame: 6-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").

  2. Academic Performance

    Time frame: 6-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.

  3. Delinquency

    Time frame: 6-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").

  4. Lifetime and Past Month Substance Use

    Time frame: 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").

  5. Academic Performance

    Time frame: 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.

  6. Delinquency

    Time frame: 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").

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

RAND

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2011
Primary completion
2015
Study completion
2016
First posted
Sep 18, 2013
Registry last updated
Apr 6, 2016

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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