Staying Strong With Schools - A School-Based Resilience Support Intervention for Military-Connected Children

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Staying Strong With Schools Intervention, Waitlist Control

In brief

The purpose of this study is to examine whether Staying Strong With Schools, a school-based intervention to support military-connected children, will be helpful for school professionals and military parents in supporting specific needs of this population of children. As part of the partnership between three school districts in Massachusetts and the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program, the investigators will examine the efficacy of a training delivered to these schools. The schools will be randomly divided into two groups (like a toss of a coin). Half of the schools will receive the training in 2014-2015, and the other half will be waitlisted and receive the training the following year (2015-2016). All participants (school teachers, military-connected children, and their parents) will be asked to complete questionnaires the first year. The investigators hypothesize that, compared to the control schools, at the end of the school year, SSWS schools will be associated with: (1) greater sense of competence and quality of relationships with military-connected children (MCC) among school professionals; (2) lower parental distress and increased parental sense of competence and general family functioning; and (3) increased social support, and fewer academic, emotional, and behavioral problems among MCC. The investigators hypothesize that an increase in school professionals' sense of competence in identifying and handling MCC's needs, increased quality of relationships with MCC, lower parental distress, increased parental sense of competence, and increased general family functioning will mediate the efficacy of SSWS on MCC's social support and psychosocial functioning.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02378051

Run by

Massachusetts General Hospital

People needed

190

Starts

2014-09-01

Expected to finish

2016-06-01

Last updated by the study team

2017-01-10

Who can join

Age: 6 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• For school teachers: age 18 or older, employed as teacher in a participating school, willingness to participate in the intervention and able to participate in the informed consent process.
• For military-connected children: age < 18, and currently in grade 1 through 6, student in a participating school, at least one parent who currently serves, or had served in the military since 9/11/01, children without a participating classroom teacher will not receive teacher-rated assessments, but will not be excluded from the school based intervention, parent gives permission for child to participate.
• For military parents: male or female, age 18 or older, parent of a child enrolled in one of the participating schools, parent or co-parent currently serves, or had served in the military since 9/11/01, parent of a military-connected child that is eligible to participate, willing to participate, and able to give informed consent, and permission to release test scores, and have their child participate in SSWS, and self-report, parental and teachers' assessments.

You may not qualify if…

• For teachers: unable to attend the initial training, unable to participate in the informed consent process.
• For military-connected children: decline participation, determination by the principal or teacher that participation would not be in the military-connected child's best interest for any reason.
• For military parents: unable to participate in the informed consent process.

Where it is running

• Community Charter School — Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
• East Falmouth Elementary School — East Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States
• Morse Pond School — Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States
• Mullen-Hall School — Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States
• North Falmouth Elementary School — Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States
• Hyannis West Elementary School — Hyannis, Massachusetts, United States
• Barnstable United Elementary School — Marstons Mills, Massachusetts, United States
• West Villages Elementary School — Marstons Mills, Massachusetts, United States
• Teaticket Elementary School — Teaticket, Massachusetts, United States
• West Barnstable Elementary School — West Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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