Middle School Success Over Stress

Summary

It is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted families adversely in multiple ways, including economic stressors, mental health-related functioning, social/familial functioning, as well as responses to mandated safety measures (e.g. social distancing, stay-at-home orders, mask-wearing). Furthermore, families of school-age children have had to navigate online instruction and home schooling in the context of these difficult circumstances with little preparation for doing so effectively. School districts have varied widely in their ability to support parents during this crisis. These stressors are likely to have disproportionately adverse effects on lower-income and racial/ ethnic minority populations, for whom economic, academic, and family-level challenges were already pronounced. For instance, health effects of COVID-19 have hit African American and Latinx populations with disproportionate severity, including higher rates of hospitalization and death. Given the scale of pandemic impacts for families with school-aged children, the identification of effective family-focused interventions that target core mechanisms of change with a broad range of benefits for parents and youth across diverse populations, and that can be brought to scale rapidly and with fidelity, represent critical public health goals.

In this research study the investigators will adapt and test the efficacy of the Family Check-Up Online as a treatment to foster resilient family functioning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The investigators will test the effects of the adapted FCU Online program on key mechanisms of change that are predicted to directly impact child and family functioning: parenting skills, parental depression, and parent and child self-regulation. The investigators predict that changes in these key targets of the intervention will impact participant's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including youth depression and behavior problems, the ability to cope with pandemic-focused stressors, and social/familial functioning.

Conditions

• Parenting
• Parent-Child Relations
• Depression
• Self-regulation

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Family Check-Up

This intervention includes access to the Family Check-Up Online website and telehealth coaching provided by trained mental health providers. A minimum of 5 coaching sessions will be offered.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Case Western Reserve University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Oregon

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Elizabeth Stormshak, PhD · University of Oregon

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-10-11

Primary Completion

2023-01-23

Completion

2023-01-23

Countries

• United States

Study Locations