Sit Together and Read (STAR): A Pilot Study of Children and Their Kinship Caregivers

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Reading

In brief

Parental substance use is the second leading cause of foster care placement. As a result, nearly 100,000 Ohio grandparents, family, friends, and neighbors are providing kinship care for children. Kinship caregivers are more likely to be of lower socioeconomic status, report less warmth and respect in their parenting attitudes, and exhibit higher levels of caregiver-child conflict, relative to traditional foster parents. These characteristics, in addition to the trauma associated with exposure to parental drug use, contribute to a significant risk for reading difficulties and lower overall academic achievement for affected children. The objective is to pilot an evidence-based reading intervention in a group of kinship caregivers and children affected by parental opioid use. This work is significant because the investigators aim to improve reading outcomes of children who may otherwise experience substantial difficulty with reading development, and to support kinship caregivers who may otherwise have few resources to promote the reading skills of children placed in their care. The approach will use a randomized (1:1) waitlist controlled trial design to examine the effects of a 15-week kinship caregiver-implemented Sit Together and Read (STAR) intervention for 4-5 year old children being raised by kin as a result of parental opioid use.

Key facts

Study ID: NCT04027257
Run by: Sherine Tambyraja
People needed: 20
Starts: 2019-10-01
Expected to finish: 2021-05-31
Last updated by the study team: 2025-12-12

Who can join

Age: 4 and older, up to 6. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

Child 4 years, 0 months to 5 years, 11 months at enrollment
Child in kinship care
Child experienced parental opioid use prior to kinship care
Kinship caregiver willing to attend in-person meetings
Kinship caregiver willing to read regularly to the child in English for 15 consecutive weeks

You may not qualify if…

Where it is running

Email List Servs — Dublin, Ohio, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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