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.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
190
1. On-Site Training to Raise Awareness about the Stress of Parental Deployment and Review Resources Helpful in Promoting military-connected children (MCC)'s Resilience. A 60-minute training will be delivered by our Liaison Trainer on-site to school professionals at the beginning of the school year. 2. Training and supervision of the Resilience Support Liaison (RSL). In each school receiving the Staying Strong with Schools intervention, we will train the guidance counselor to take on the role of a RSL. The RSL will develop for each MCC an individual resilience support plan that will outline the specific intervention components that will be applied for him/her.
Receipt of an educational pamphlet outlining resources useful to support military-connected children distributed to all educators at the beginning of the school year.
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
The Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale
Teachers' Sense of Efficacy is the beliefs in their capability to make a difference in student learning, to be able to get through even to students who are difficult or unmotivated. The Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale asks teachers to assess their capability concerning instructional strategies, student engagement, and classroom management. It will assess teachers' sense of competence in handling military-connected children's needs.
Time frame: up to two years
The Student-Teacher Relationship Scale
The Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) is widely used to examine teachers' relationships with young students in terms of closeness, conflict, and dependency. It will assess the quality of teachers' relationships with military-connected children.
Time frame: up to two years
Parenting Sense of Competence Scale
The Parenting Sense of Competence scale measures parental competence on two dimensions: Satisfaction and Efficacy. It is a 16 item Likert-scale questionnaire (on a 6 point scale ranging from strongly agree \[1\] to strongly disagree \[6\]), with nine questions under Satisfaction and seven under Efficacy. Satisfaction section examines the parents' anxiety, motivation and frustration, while the Efficacy section looks at the parents' competence, capability levels, and problem-solving abilities in their parental role.
Time frame: up to two years
Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale
Parental distress will be assessed using the 21-item self-report Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale. Items each reflect a negative emotional symptom. Each of these is rated on a four-point Likert scale of frequency or severity of the participants' experiences over the last week with the intention of emphasizing states over traits. These scores ranged from 0, meaning that the client believed the item "did not apply to them at all", to 3 meaning that the client considered the item to "apply to them very much, or most of the time".
Time frame: up to two years
McMaster Family Assessment Device
Family functioning will be assessed using the general functioning subscale of McMaster Family Assessment Device. The GF subscale consists of 12 questions to permit individuals to rate how well each statement describes their family by selecting among four responses: strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree.
Time frame: up to two years
Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition
Maladaptive and adaptive behaviors and self-perceptions will be assessed using the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition. In this study, parents will be the informants. This measure assesses child's behaviors in the school setting (Teacher Rating; TRS) as well as the home and community setting (Parent Rating; PRS) without substantial burden.
Time frame: up to two years
Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale
Perceived social support will be assessed using the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale. Subjects respond to items using a six-point scale, ranging from 1= "never," to 6 ="always."
Time frame: up to two years
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