Intervention to Prevent Behavioral Health Symptoms Among Pandemic Affected Children
Purpose
Racial and ethnic minority children who live in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities are disproportionately impacted by pandemic and climate-induced disasters. Although effective interventions have been designed to treat mental health related symptoms in post-disaster settings, accessible, empirically supported prevention interventions are needed to prevent the onset of mental and behavioral health issues among these children. Building on our preliminary findings, the proposed study examines the efficacy and implementation of a COVID-19 adapted disaster focused prevention intervention, Journey of Hope-C19, in preventing behavioral health and interpersonal problems among racial and ethnic minority children who live in low-resource high poverty communities.
Conditions
- Emotional Distress
- Prosocial Behavior
- Pandemic, COVID-19
- Coping Skills
- Social Support
Eligibility
- Eligible Ages
- Between 8 Years and 14 Years
- Eligible Genders
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria
- child experienced the COVID-19 pandemic and an additional large-scale disaster - child score is 5 or above on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire - child is in 3- 8th grade at enrollment - the parent or guardian must complete informed consent and child assent - child must speak English or Spanish.
Exclusion Criteria
- child is currently receiving treatment for a diagnosed mental health condition - children who are not able to interact with other students in a group work format, regardless of IEP status
Study Design
- Phase
- N/A
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel Assignment
- Primary Purpose
- Prevention
- Masking
- None (Open Label)
Arm Groups
| Arm | Description | Assigned Intervention |
|---|---|---|
|
Experimental JoH-C19 |
After initial randomization, some participants will be assigned to receive JoH-C19 |
|
|
Active Comparator Switch off Get Active |
After initial randomization, some participants will be assigned to receive Switch Off Get Active |
|
Recruiting Locations
Bradenton, Florida 34207
Panama City, Florida 32401
Saint Petersburg, Florida 33709
West Palm Beach, Florida 33406
New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
New Orleans, Louisiana 70179
Dickinson, Texas 77539
La Marque, Texas 77568
More Details
- NCT ID
- NCT05639465
- Status
- Recruiting
- Sponsor
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Detailed Description
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound impact on children globally, jeopardizing their sense of safety, security, and behavioral health. In addition to COVID-19, millions of children are still recovering from recent hurricanes that struck the southern the United States. Children exposed to climate-induced disasters (e.g. hurricanes) are at a significant risk for mental and behavioral health challenges. Coupled with an enduring pandemic, many of these children are disproportionately at risk for escalating mental health problems. Racial and ethnic minority children who live in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods are among the most vulnerable during and after large-scale disasters. They are more likely experience high levels of social and material losses, displacement, and lack of access to mental and physical health services. Thus, there is a critical need for these children to received accessible, empirically supported preventative interventions to mitigate the onset of mental illness and behavioral health issues. Most post-disaster behavioral health interventions are designed to treat rather than prevent mental health conditions and are often inaccessible to racial and ethnic minority children living in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. The present study, therefore, seeks to examine the implementation and efficacy of the COVID-19 adaptation of a disaster focused empirically supported prevention intervention, the Journey of Hope (JoH), distributed by Save the Children, a humanitarian organization serving socioeconomically disadvantaged and racial and ethnic minority children in communities dually impacted by COVID-19 and recent hurricanes that struck the Southern United States. The long-term goals of this study are to: (1) respond to the critical need of accessible behavioral health interventions designed to prevent and/or reduce COVID-19 related distress; and (2) provide an understanding on how a COVID-19 tailored prevention intervention mitigates behavioral health disparities among racial and ethnic minority children in high poverty settings who have been exposed to multiple large scale disasters. In a pragmatic randomized control trial with 800 children between 3-8th grade, we seek to: Aim 1: Evaluate the efficacy of the COVID-19 adapted JoH (JoH-C19) in preventing behavioral health and interpersonal problems among socioeconomically disadvantaged and racial and ethnic minority children who have been exposed to multiple large-scale disasters relative to a healthy life-style attention control condition. Aim 2: Examine if hypothesized mechanisms of change variables (social connectedness, adaptive coping, self-efficacy) mediate intervention effects (JoH-C19 vs attention control) on child individual behavioral health and interpersonal outcomes. Aim 3: Assess the moderating impact of COVID-19 related stressors on behavioral health outcomes among children who participate in JoH-C19 versus the control condition. Aim 4: Explore implementation barriers, facilitators, and acceptability of the JoH-C19 within school and after-school settings and delivered by community and school-based counselors.