TY - JOUR
T1 - A randomized controlled trial of a trauma-informed school prevention program for urban youth
T2 - Rationale, design, and methods
AU - Mendelson, Tamar
AU - Clary, Laura K.
AU - Sibinga, Erica
AU - Tandon, Darius
AU - Musci, Rashelle
AU - Mmari, Kristin
AU - Salkever, David
AU - Stuart, Elizabeth A.
AU - Ialongo, Nick
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2020/3
Y1 - 2020/3
N2 - Introduction: Youth in disadvantaged urban areas are frequently exposed to chronic stress and trauma, including housing instability, neighborhood violence, and other poverty-related adversities. These exposures increase risk for emotional, behavioral, and academic problems and ultimately, school dropout. Schools are a promising setting in which to address these issues; however, there are few universal, trauma-informed school-based interventions for urban youth. Methods/Design: Project POWER (Promoting Options for Wellness and Emotion Regulation) is a randomized controlled trial testing the impact of RAP Club, a trauma-informed intervention for eighth graders that includes mindfulness as a core component. Students in 32 urban public schools (n = 800) are randomly assigned to either RAP Club or a health education active control group. We assess student emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes using self-report surveys and teacher ratings at baseline, post-intervention, and 4-month follow up. Focus groups and interviews with students, teachers, and principals address program feasibility, acceptability, and fidelity, as well as perceived program impacts. Students complete an additional self-report survey in ninth grade. Schools provide students' academic and disciplinary data for their seventh, eighth, and ninth grade years. In addition, data on program costs are collected to conduct an economic analysis of the intervention and active control programs. Discussion: Notable study features include program co-leadership by young adults from the community and building capacity of school personnel for continued program delivery. In addition to testing program impact, we will identify factors related to successful program implementation to inform future program use and dissemination.
AB - Introduction: Youth in disadvantaged urban areas are frequently exposed to chronic stress and trauma, including housing instability, neighborhood violence, and other poverty-related adversities. These exposures increase risk for emotional, behavioral, and academic problems and ultimately, school dropout. Schools are a promising setting in which to address these issues; however, there are few universal, trauma-informed school-based interventions for urban youth. Methods/Design: Project POWER (Promoting Options for Wellness and Emotion Regulation) is a randomized controlled trial testing the impact of RAP Club, a trauma-informed intervention for eighth graders that includes mindfulness as a core component. Students in 32 urban public schools (n = 800) are randomly assigned to either RAP Club or a health education active control group. We assess student emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes using self-report surveys and teacher ratings at baseline, post-intervention, and 4-month follow up. Focus groups and interviews with students, teachers, and principals address program feasibility, acceptability, and fidelity, as well as perceived program impacts. Students complete an additional self-report survey in ninth grade. Schools provide students' academic and disciplinary data for their seventh, eighth, and ninth grade years. In addition, data on program costs are collected to conduct an economic analysis of the intervention and active control programs. Discussion: Notable study features include program co-leadership by young adults from the community and building capacity of school personnel for continued program delivery. In addition to testing program impact, we will identify factors related to successful program implementation to inform future program use and dissemination.
KW - Middle school
KW - Mindfulness
KW - Prevention
KW - School-based intervention
KW - Trauma
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cct.2019.105895
DO - 10.1016/j.cct.2019.105895
M3 - Article
C2 - 31786150
AN - SCOPUS:85079209355
SN - 1551-7144
VL - 90
JO - Contemporary Clinical Trials
JF - Contemporary Clinical Trials
M1 - 105895
ER -